In this work, we employed gain-managed nonlinear amplification (GMNA) technology to achieve a pulse characterized by a smooth spectral profile and an exceptionally wide spectral bandwidth. Then this pulse was injected into a chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system for amplification, and a high energy, narrow pulse duration fiber laser system was successfully built. The initial seed source for system was a self-made mode-locked fiber oscillator that utilized a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM). This oscillator produced ultrashort pulses with a pulse duration of 10.96 ps at a repetition rate of 11.52 MHz. The spectral width of the mode-locked oscillator was significantly broadened from 5.83 nm to 63.97 nm using GMNA technology. Furthermore, the spectral profile, which initially exhibited severe oscillation structures, was reshaped into a smooth profile through the application of GMNA. Subsequently, the pulse energy was increased through CPA amplification. Finally, in the case of a central wavelength of 1064 nm and a repetition rate of 500 kHz, a pulse with an average power of 20.02 W, a single pulse energy of 40 μJ, a pulse duration of 179 fs, and a peak power of 224 MW was obtained. This fiber laser system has great prospect of application in clinical medicine and precision manufacturing due to its high energy and ultra-short pulse duration.
In this work, we demonstrate a gain-managed nonlinear amplifier with a large mode area fiber numerically and experimentally. The seed source was a home-made mode-locked fiber oscillator using a Nonlinear Amplifying Loop Mirror (NALM) that delivered ultrashort pulses with a pulse width of 8.77 ps at a repetition rate of 1 MHz. The corresponding optical spectrum centered at 1029 nm with a 3dB bandwidth of 13 nm. The pulse energy was increased to 5 nJ by a core-pumped fiber pre-amplifier. After then, a narrow-band spectral filter was inserted to reduce the pulse width and injected into a 3 m long double-clad Yb-doped fiber with a core diameter of 20 μm, which was forward pumped with a 976 nm laser diode. Finally, we obtained 1.33 μJ pulses energy delivering after amplification, and 50 fs pulses output was obtained by post compression through 600 line/mm reflective grating pairs. The numerical work has been carried out as well, which has good agreement with the experimental result. This highly compact femtosecond fiber laser system with an ultrashort pulse width has potential applications in scientific research and precision manufacturing.
A novel spectral shaping mechanism for pre-compensating gain-narrowing is investigated numerically and experimentally. The spectral shaping is realized based on the mapping between the frequency and time domain, via the modulation of intensity in time domain can be casted to frequency domain. The optical ultrashort pulse is injected to a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) and modulated both in the frequency and time domain. The pulse spectrum can be modulated in saddle-shape, and the sinking depth of spectrum can be tuning with the variation of the pump power of the NALM, which can pre-compensate the gain-narrowing and sustain a broadband spectrum in later high-gain amplifier. A proof-of-principle experiment is carried out. The spectral bandwidth of amplified optical pulse increases from about 10 nm to 19 nm, and pulse duration is shorten from 669 fs to 342 fs with the implementation of NALM spectral shaper, which shows a significant suppressing on the spectral gain-narrowing. This tunable NALM spectral shaper is employed with an all-polarization-maintaining (PM) and all-fiber structure, providing a flexible and practical solution to overcome gain-narrowing in high-gain amplifications.
In this study, different colors with a large variation in color gamut were induced by 1064 nm nanosecond pulsed laser on TC4. Then, we tested the stability and durability of the color marking made by nanosecond pulsed laser under various chemical agents and aggressive temperature conditions. The results showed that colors marking on TC4 have high sustainability to acidic and neutral solutions and also can stand the high temperature. Due to the high stability and durability of the induced colors, it is not easy to secondarily revise the colored areas, which will reduce the applicability of laser coloring technology. Here, we proposed using ultrafast pulsed laser to selectively erase the colored areas in ethanol and nitrogen atmosphere. We found that ultrafast pulsed laser had high erasing quality on the colored surface. The ΔE* before and after erasing is less than 7, and the reflectance spectra of erased areas is similar to the untreated areas. These results are essential to provide a proper solution for the lack of applicability and flexibility in laser coloring technology, which can open new perspectives in industrial applications.
In this work, we used 1064 nm nanosecond pulsed laser irradiating titanium surface to obtain different colors with a large variation in total color difference (ΔE*) and systematized the color gamut on titanium. A hand-held colorimeter and the CIEL*a*b* color difference formula were used to quantitatively evaluate the influences of process parameters on the color changes of titanium surfaces. Moreover, a method was reported in this paper to erase selectively the colored areas by changing the processing atmosphere. We compared the erasing effects between ultrafast pulsed laser and nanosecond pulsed laser, and found that ultrafast pulsed laser has higher quality erasure on the colored surface. The results showed that more than 90% O element of colored areas were erased and Ti element increased quickly. The ΔE* between erased areas and bare materials is less than 7, and the reflectance spectra of erased areas is similar to the untreated areas. Furthermore, the wettability of erased fields was changed and the contact angle (CA) was <10°, which indicates the surface shows superhydrophilicity in air.
In this work, different colors with a large variation in total color difference (ΔE*) were induced by 1064 nm nanosecond pulsed laser on TC4 titanium alloy, which can expand and systematize the color gamut on TC4. The influences of laser parameters on the color difference were evaluated by hand-held colorimeter with CIEL*a*b* color space quantitatively and the morphology of oxide thin film was characterized. With the increasing of scanning speed, ΔE* increased from 22.8 to 95.72 and lightness difference (ΔL*) increased from 13 to 78. With the increasing of laser power, ΔL* decreased gradually. With the increasing of pulse repetition frequency, ΔE* increased from 15.07 to 98.42, and ΔL* increased from -9 to 74. Finally, the experiment of color erasing and repairing in controllable processing atmosphere was carried out as well. The ΔE* before and after laser erasing is less than 7 in low oxygen environment by introducing nitrogen atmosphere, and being exposed to liquids, which indicates that colors can be erased and repaired based on laser induced reduction. Rewriting in the erased fields can increase the saturation and lightness of colors. The possibility of erasing or rewriting colors in special treatment environment would take laser coloring to a new level, allowing not only improvement of color quality from reprocessed fields but also modification of marks during the laser processing according to the wishes of operators.
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