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Optics Express

Optics Express

  • Editor: C. Martijn de Sterke
  • Vol. 20, Iss. 6 — Mar. 12, 2012
  • pp: 5891–5895

Optics InfoBase > Optics Express > Volume 20 > Issue 6 > Page 5891

Laser emission from a solar-pumped fiber

Shintaro Mizuno, Hiroshi Ito, Kazuo Hasegawa, Takenobu Suzuki, and Yasutake Ohishi  »View Author Affiliations


Optics Express, Vol. 20, Issue 6, pp. 5891-5895 (2012)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.20.005891


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Abstract

We report the realization of a solar-pumped fiber laser (SPFL) using a double-clad (a center core/ an inner clad working also as optical waveguide/ an outer clad) Nd-doped fluoride optical fiber as a laser medium. With a compact off-axis parabolic mirror of 5 cm in aperture diameter, the natural sunlight is concentrated by a factor 104, and introduced partly into the core of the fiber and partly into the inner clad in which the light is guided in some distance and transferred to the core after all. We have obtained clear laser spectrum characteristics with approximately 0.01 nm full-width-half-maximum of the laser line at the peak wavelength of 1053.7 nm, a low-lasing threshold of 49.1 mW, a slope efficiency of 6.6%, and a total efficiency of 1.76%. Further optimization of the medium properties, optical cavity, and concentration technique will yield higher efficiency and lower threshold.

© 2012 OSA

OCIS Codes
(060.2320) Fiber optics and optical communications : Fiber optics amplifiers and oscillators
(140.3530) Lasers and laser optics : Lasers, neodymium
(350.6050) Other areas of optics : Solar energy

ToC Category:
Lasers and Laser Optics

History
Original Manuscript: December 2, 2011
Revised Manuscript: February 7, 2012
Manuscript Accepted: February 10, 2012
Published: February 27, 2012

Citation
Shintaro Mizuno, Hiroshi Ito, Kazuo Hasegawa, Takenobu Suzuki, and Yasutake Ohishi, "Laser emission from a solar-pumped fiber," Opt. Express 20, 5891-5895 (2012)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-20-6-5891


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References

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