Simulation and experiment of pump distribution in LD end-pumped

Nd:YAG single crystal fiber

Cai XiaoTian1,2,3, Li Xiao1,2,3,4, Zhao GuoMin1,2,3
1
College of Optoelectric Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology,
Changsha, Hunan, 410073, China; 2Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High Energy Laser
Technology, Changsha, Hunan, 410073, China; 3Hunan Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center
of High Power Fiber Laser, Changsha, Hunan, 410073, China; 4State Key Laboratory of Crystal
Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

ABSTRACT

The spread of the pump model, established based on MATLAB, simulates the distribution of the pump in End-Pumped
single crystal fiber. Simulation results show that the pump in the rod single crystal fiber will converge again. By
changing the crystal absorption coefficient, it can be found that smaller the absorption coefficient is, more uniform the
pump distribution is; when it is greater, the pump will concentrate to the pump end more seriously. Establish End-
Pumped Experimental platform in the experiment, the crystal is 1 mm in diameter and length of 30 mm, Nd3+doping
concentration is 1%. Change the position of the pump light's focus in the crystal, we can see different distribution of the
pump light by different focus location in the crystal and find that the pump light has the most homogeneous distribution
when the focus is on the crystal axis and has 1mm distance to the pump end face. At this time, the second convergence of
the pump is clearly visible. By changing the pump wavelength, crystal absorption coefficient changes. It is found that
under the same pump power, absorption coefficient is greater, the pump will concentrate to the pump end more seriously.
And the temperature of crystal pump end rises, which is identical with the simulation results. The results indicate that for
the single crystal fiber, the higher absorption coefficient is not better, low absorption coefficient leads to the uniform
distribution of the pump, there will be a better absorption in a relatively long length of single crystal fiber. And due to the
lower end face temperature, end pump power upper limit will also increase.
Keywords: Nd:YAG, single crystal fiber, MATLAB, absorption coefficient, pump distribution, second convergence

1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, single crystal fiber laser has caused widespread concern of scientists as a new structure laser.
Continuous output power of Traditional fiber lasers has reached kW level, but in terms of the pulse output, due to its
lower damage threshold and the nonlinear effects caused by high power density, its pulse output energy is limited, and a
few meters long cavity length lead to pulse broadening so that the pulse duration is usually limited to less than 100ns [1].
Although in recent years the emergence of rod photonic crystal fiber takes a solution to these problems, but its inflexible
properties lead to its structural space is very limited [2]. Bulk crystal structure laser has more severe heat accumulation
due to the small heat exchange area, and the proportion of the overlap of the pump light and the signal light is not high,
which limits their power output and an optical slope efficiency [3].
Single crystal fiber laser combines the advantages of traditional bulk solid-state lasers and fiber lasers, elongated single
crystal fiber make the pump light has a total internal reflection in the single crystal fiber, increasing the overlapping area
of the pump light and signal light while a larger heat exchange area such that the heat-accumulating in single crystal fiber
is smaller, the length of the crystal is much shorter compared to the rod-shaped photonic crystal fiber, the laser structure
is very compact. There have been many research team used single-crystal fiber as a laser medium and lasing, such as: In
2011, France D.Shala used Nd:YAG single crystal fiber got the highest 34W of 946nm continuous laser output [4], in
2012 the study team used Yb:YAG single crystal fiber laser reached the highest 251W continuous output [5], 2013,
L.Deyra used commercial Nd:YAG single crystal fiber realized 3W, 300uJ, 25ns of 473nm blue laser [6].
This paper focuses on the distribution of pump light in single crystal fiber, uses MATLAB simulation model written by
myself to have got the same experimental results, proves the reliability of the simulation model. Meanwhile,

XXI International Symposium on High Power Laser Systems and Applications 2016, edited by
Dieter Schuoecker, Richard Majer, Julia Brunnbauer, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 10254, 102540A
© 2017 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/17/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.2256803

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 experimental results give single crystal fiber researchers valuable reference. In this paper, the content will be divided into
two parts to introduce:
1) MATLAB simulation of the pump light distribution in a single crystal optical fiber;
2) LD end-pumped rod Nd:YAG Single Crystal Fiber experiment.

2. SIMULATION
Experimental setup is shown below:
R=100mm ,
1064nm 95%HR
808nm HR,
LD , Nd:YAG SCF , output
ik
808nm AR ,
f1, f2,
1064nm HR,
Figure 1. LD end-pumped Nd:YAG Single Crystal Fiber experimental setup schematic image.
LD pump light wavelength range that can be generated is 802nm ~ 808nm, the emission wavelength is controlled by
changing the operating temperature. Pump light go through an optical fiber with a diameter of 400um and output by a
fiber output head. The pump light is a quasi-Gaussian beam between Gaussian beam and geometry beam and there is no
exact analytical solution to describe the beam. Through simulation, we use the following approximate solutions to
describe such quasi-Gaussian distribution:

= ∗ [1 + ∗ ∗ ]
(1)
∗
= ∗ ∗

Beam propagates along the z direction, a direction perpendicular to the z direction is defined as x, represents beam
radius, represents waist radius, represents the light intensity of the pump light, represents the pump light’s
absorption coefficient in crystal, wherein the constant a = 0.0178，b = 2，c = 0.17 [7].
In MATLAB simulation, we set waist radius to 0.2mm, 1mm waist position from the end face of the pump, the reason
why we choose the position 1mm from the end face is that this will ensure the efficiency of the pump light coupled into
the crystal is relatively high through the observation of the experiment. Meanwhile the pump light's secondary
aggregation in the crystal is observed, so that the pump light is more evenly distributed within the crystal. With the above
and of that expression, we draw the propagation in a free space of the pump light, as shown in Figure 2:

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 Pump beann transfer in fr-ee space

10 15 20 25
z /mm

Figure 2. Pump light traansfers in free space.

s

Figure 3. Pump light traansfers in SCF.

The absorptioon coefficient of the pump lightl in crystal is set to 0, an
nd assuming total
t reflectionn of the pump light occurs
u a special allgorithm to geet the pump ligght distributioon in the crystal. As can be
at the boundaary of the crysstal, then we use
seen from thee figure, there is still a certaain intensity off the pump lig ght in the secoond half of thee crystal. We use
u the pump
light intensityy distribution in the center of t compare wiith the free sppace pump lighht intensity distribution at x
o the crystal to
= 0, which results obtainedd in Figure 4:
Pump beam relative intensiity in position x=0

C * C*C*C*(

o s 10 20 25
z /mm s
Figure 4. Pump beam reelative intensityy distribution allong z axis in x=
=0.

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 The blue line is the pump light
l intensity distribution inn the free spacce at x=0 while the red linee represents thhe pump light
intensity distrribution in thee SCF, and wee use "○" markk the local maaximum, use "*" mark locall minimum. It is apparent
from the figuure, due to the restriction efffect of the pum
mping light by y SCF, pump light
l at single crystal fiber has
h apparent
second aggregation at z = 9mm 9 , and em
merge slowly weakened
w osciillations betweeen z = 10mm m to 25mm, affter z> 25mm,
the pump lighht oscillations become irreggular and evenntually disappeear due to the limited calculation accuraccy of
MATLAB annd limited sam mpling range of
o the model, butb what can be b expected iss that the oscilllation will con ntinue, and
the period of oscillation wiill continue to become smalller. Light inteensity finally stabilizes
s at 1.525, which iss 30.45% of
the max intennsity. Compareed to the bulkk of the Nd:YA AG crystal, sinngle crystal fibber plays a role of waveguiide, so that thee
pump light diistribution in the
t crystal is more
m uniform,, which impro ove the utilizattion of the pum mp light. Pressumably,
under the samme pump poweer, the same material
m Nd:YA AG single cry ystal fiber has a higher outpput power than n the bulk
Nd:YAG crysstal.
For different absorption cooefficients, pum mp light distriibution within
n the crystal iss also differennt. The pump light
l intensity
distribution within
w the crysstal in differennt absorption coefficient
c is shown
s in Figuure 5:
Pump Ibeam relative iintensity in diffierent absorpticDn coefficient

1,-6.1.0-1618.6134061,-e.

i
3 5 l 15 20 25
z /mm
Figure 5. Relative intennsity distributionn of the pump light
l with differrent absorption coefficient.
There are 6 soolid lines in thhe figure, which's absorptioon coefficient increases in tuurn from top tto bottom, resp pectively
0 , 0. 1 , 0.2 , 0.5 , 1 , 2 . As can be
b seen, the puump light decaay rate increasses as the
absorption cooefficient increeases, the position of the seecond converg gence graduallly approaches the end surfaace. When the
absorption cooefficient is suufficiently largge, the secondd convergence disappears, as a shown in skky blue solid liine in Figure
5. At the sam me time, we obbserve that if thhe absorption coefficient iss large enoughh, for examplee, in this modeel, the
absorption cooefficient = 2 , whenn the pump ligght is propagaated to z = 5m mm position, puump intensity decay to 10% %
of the maxim mum light intennsity, SCF beffore 6mm absoorb most of th he energy of thhe pump lightt, rear light inttensity is
weak with a low l gain provided. For the long l SCF, thee majority of th he total crystaal length wastee, pump light energy
absorption alm most similar compared
c to 6mm
6 long SCF F, but the longger crystal lenngth brings greeater losses. So we can get
the conclusion that single crystal
c fiber iss not visible ass long as posssible, when thee absorption ccoefficient is relatively
r
large, the longer crystal lenngth, the greatter loss of crystal.
For a sum, figgure 4 shows the pump lighht’s distributioon in SCF andd conventionall bulk crystal aand SCF plays a waveguidee
role apparently. While figuure 5 shows thhat the pump light’s distribu w different absorption co
ution in SCF with oefficient, if
the absorptionn coefficient is
i larger, the second
s converrgence is weakker.
If use a lens coupling
c systeem instead of 1:1, waist raddius can be adjjusted accordiing to the maggnification of the
t lens, usingg
the model wee studied distriibution of the pump light unnder different waist radius, the absorptionn coefficient is set to 0,
We obtained the followingg results.

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 Pump beam irelative intensiity in w0=0.2mi Pump be am relative intE.nsity in w0=0 3mm

47,--e-----*--e-

10 15 20 2 o 5 10 1',5 20 25
z /mm z /mn
Pump beam relative inten sity in w0=0.4

5 10 15 20
¡....
Figure 6. The pump lighht intensity disttribution in SCF
F with differentt beam waist radius.
d
Solid line collor is from redd, blue to green, respectivelyy, the waist raadius is 0.2mmm, 0.3mm, 0.44mm. What caan be observedd
is that with thhe waist radiuss increasing, the
t maximum light intensity y falls, so pow
wer density at the waist posiition will be
decreased, whhich improve the damage thhreshold of the single crystaal fiber in the high-power eexperiments. In n addition, thee
secondary connvergence position will moove to the rearr of the crystall, but in the ennd the constraiint of the sing
gle crystal
fiber leads to a same uniforrm distribution intensity off the pump ligh ht, and it can be
b seen that w
with increasingg waist radius,,
the pump lighht oscillation period
p after seecondary convvergence also become largeer due to the beeam divergence angle
becomes smaaller, so that thhe angle of refflection on thee crystal edge will be smalleer thus the cyccle of pump liight reflectingg
will increase.

3. EXPERIME
E ENTS
We designed the experimenntal apparatuss as shown in Figure 1. Thee pump light generated
g by L
LD outputs thrrough the fiberr
output head, = 0.17, divergence
d anggle of 9.79°. Magnification
M of 1: 1 lens coupling
c systemm consists of two lenticularr
lens with 37m
mm focal length, the lens diiameter of 25.44mm, both en
nds plating 8088nm high antiireflection filmms. Lens
coupling systtem guide pum
mp light into thhe crystal. Ndd:YAG crystall length 30mm m and the dopiing concentrattion is 1%.
Since LD lasees different wavelengths
w at different operrating temperaatures, and diffferent waveleengths corresp
ponding to
different absoorption coefficcients. We gett the wavelenggth with temperature curve depending onn cooling temp perature.

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 wavelength -T

807 -

806 -
.-.
aE _

-.5 805 -
D)
a
a) -
a)
804 -

803 -

802
10
1
i

12
i

14
i

16
i

18
i

20
i

22
i

24
i

26 28
i'
T (°C)
Figure 7. LD lasing wavelength variation with temperature curve.

12

E10
o
c
4E-'
8
o
Em 6
oU
c0
4

Q
0
770 780 790 800 810 820 830 840 850

Figure 8. The Nd:YAG absorption spectrum of 1% doping concentration.

In Figure 7, the coolant temperature is increased from 11℃ to 27℃ and the wavelength range is of 802.6nm ~ 806.9nm.
Figure 8 is the 1% doped Nd:YAG absorption coefficient curve [8]. We can see that the absorption coefficient reaches a
minimum value at 802nm in Figure 8 red dotted box, and then with increasing wavelength, the curve has an
approximately monotonically increasing trend, but there has a small depression between 806-807nm. Combining with
Figure 7 and we can see that, with the increase of the LD cooling water temperature, the crystal absorption coefficient to
the pump light has a nearly monotonically increasing growth trend.
When the LD drive current I = 1A, the pump light power is 3W. We use a thermal imager to observe different pump light
distribution in the crystal with different wavelength.

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 T
Figure 9-1 T = 11℃ Figure 9-2 T = 15℃

ri [

W71_7!

Figure 9-3 T = 20℃ Figure 9-4 T = 25℃

Figure 9. Different pump light distribution in the crystal with different wavelength by thermal imager.
With the coolant temperature T = 11℃, we can clearly see that the pump light's second convergence in the crystal. In
T = 20℃, with the increase of water-cooling temperature, the highest temperature point of the secondary convergence is
closer to the end face of the pump, and the maximum temperature of the crystal end face increases in sequence. After
T > 20℃, there is no significant change in the distribution of pump light, and the maximum temperature close to a
constant, because the wavelength is between 805.4nm ~ 806.9nm in T > 20℃, in this wavelength range the absorption
coefficient doesn’t change too much. When the absorption coefficient is relatively large, the pump light absorption
occurs mainly in the first half of the crystal, most of behind crystal has a small contribution to the gain, but increase the
system loss, which coincide with the results of simulation.
Draw a relationship between the maximum temperature of the crystal, the absorption coefficient and the pump
wavelength:

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 T max
70 -

60 -

50 -

-E
40 -
- abs;orbtion
30 - -4
----'
20 -

10-

0 .
/
C

802 GJ/ 3 8J14 805 808 807

tavelength (in m)
Figure 10. Crystal maxiimum temperature, the absorpttion coefficientt and the pump wavelength
w relaationship graph
h.
As can be seeen in the figurre, the highest temperature of
o the crystal is
i in proportioon to the absorrption coefficiient.
According to the end-pumpped heat distriibution relatioonship with unnconstrained boundaries
b knoown in a disseertation [9]:

Q r, z = (2)

Where η is a ratio betweenn a portion of optical

o energyy which transfformed into heeat energy andd total optical energy, α is
o the crystal, is the pumpp power, ω is the spot radiuus of the beam
the absorptionn coefficient of m. Because thee same
specific heat throughout thhe crystal, nam
mely:
∆ = Q/ C ∗ ρ
∆T (3)
C is the speciific heat, ρ is the
t density, annd the distribuution of heat in
n the crystal end
e face in linee with the abo
ove relation,
then:

∆T = (4)

Since the maxximum tempeerature appearss at the end faace, which means z = 0, thenn the temperaature rise of the crystal end
faces

∆ = (5)

As can be seeen from the foormula, the tem mperature risee of crystal endd faces ∆ is proportionnal to the absorrption
coefficient , which is connsistent with exxperimental reesults, indicatting the validitty of the theorretical model. Since the
crystal absorpption coefficieent to the pum
mp light in the same wavelen ngth is proporrtional to the ddoping concen ntration, so
reducing the doping
d concenntration of thee crystal is thee fundamental method of reducing the maaximum temperature to the
crystal. In addditional, low absorption
a coeefficient can lead to a longeer pump light absorption lenngth in the cry ystal,
observed in thhe experimentt, so that the pump
p light hass a more even
n distribution along
a entire leength of the crrystal, which
will increase pumping efficciency and cooling efficienccy.

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 4. CONCLUSION
Single crystal fiber as the laser medium, compared to traditional fiber and bulk crystal, has the following advantages: 1,
due to the pump light's total internal reflection within the single crystal fiber, the overlapping area between pumping
light and the signal light increase, so there will be a higher slope efficiency than the bulk crystal under the same material
in theory; 2, SCF's structure is elongated cylinder, the small diameter makes the heat sink closer to the heat source
center, so that the crystal temperature will be better controlled in the high-power pump. At the same time large heat
exchange area between the crystal and the heat sink can quickly export the heat accumulated within the crystal,
improving the cooling efficiency; 3, Compared to the fiber or photonic crystal fiber, SCF has a shorter length so that the
laser can be designed compact.
Through the research in this article, we propose several ways to optimize SCF:
1) The key to reducing the maximum temperature of the SCF is to reduce the doping concentration of SCF, low doping
concentration make that the highest temperature of the crystal will also be reduced, thereby improving the SCF damage
threshold, and because of the longer length of the crystal, lower doping concentration can also make SCF have a good
absorption of the pump light and the pump light is more evenly distributed over the entire length of the crystal,
improving thermal efficiency and utilization of SCF;
2) Using a suitable magnification coupling lens system so that the beam waist in the crystal is sufficiently large,
recommended waist radius is 0.4mm for the 1mm diameter of the SCF, this will reduce the power density at the beam
waist position and improve the crystal destruction threshold, but large waist radius will increase the coupling difficulty,
even degrade coupling efficiency.
3) Through the experiment, the waist is placed about 1mm from the end face of the crystal which can get a good
coupling efficiency and the pump light has a more uniform distribution in the crystal.
4) Select the appropriate length of the crystal according to the wavelength of the pump light and SCF crystal
corresponding absorption coefficient to the pump light. Observed in experiments, most of pump light are absorbed just in
the first half of crystal when the absorption coefficient becomes large, the behind crystal provides greater loss only. So,
for a specific wavelength and corresponding absorption coefficient, select the appropriate length of the crystal is
necessary.

REFERENCES

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[6] Deyra, Loïc, et al, "3 W, 300 μJ, 25 ns pulsed 473 nm blue laser based on actively Q-switched Nd:YAG single-
crystal fiber oscillator at 946 nm," Optics Letters 38(16), 3013-3016 (2013).
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