ADVALUE PHOTONICS INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF093-158

Description

High power fiber lasers have made significant progress in last several years. Fiber laser operating in the 1.9-2.1micron wavelength regimes have achieved operating powers approaching 1kW. Such fiber lasers have great potential in the areas of laser radar, remote sensing, medicine, and infrared (IR) countermeasures. However, further development of these technologies is hindered by a lack of commercial availability of several basic optical components. For example, there is no high quality fiber isolator near 2 micron. For the moment, free-space isolator has to be used. In this proposal, we propose to develop an all-fiber isolator for 2 micron high power fiber lasers and amplifiers. An all-fiber isolator with hundreds throughput power level will be demonstrated and delivered. Successful development of this proposed all-fiber isolator will enable many new applications of high power fiber lasers, and revolutionize high power fiber laser and amplifier developments. BENEFIT: This proposed all-fiber isolator can be used for current DoD high power 2 micron fiber lasers and amplifiers programs. It can also be used for industrial and medical high power 2 micron fiber lasers. The development of this proposed all-fiber isolator can extend the life of many fiber lasers and amplifiers, further improve the reliability of fiber lasers, and enable coherent beam combining.