• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.135-140
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• 2017

In this paper, we report measured results for an all-fiber $7{\times}1$ pump combiner based on an optical fiber chip for high-power fiber lasers. An optical-fiber chip was fabricated by etching a fiber, having core and cladding diameters of 20 and $400{\mu}m$, in the longitudinal direction. To both ends of the etched chip, we spliced input and output fibers. First, we tied together seven optical fibers, having core and cladding diameters of 105 and $125{\mu}m$ respectively, in a cylindrical bundle and spliced them to the $375-{\mu}m$ end of the optical-fiber chip. Then, we attached an output DCF with core and cladding diameters of 25 and $250{\mu}m$ to the $250-{\mu}m$ end of the optical-fiber chip. Finally, the fabricated $7{\times}1$ pump combiner showed an average optical coupling efficiency of about 90.2% per port. This chip-based pump combiner may replace conventional pump combiners by massive production of fiber chips.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.187-192
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• 2019

In this paper a pump combiner, a key component of a high-power fiber laser, was fabricated, and its output characteristics measured using a high-power performance measuring instrument. The $(18+1){\times}1$ pump combiner consists of an optical-fiber bundle of one signal fiber and 18 pump fibers, an output optical fiber, and housing. The signal and output fibers were fabricated using polarization-maintaining optical fiber. By measuring the loss of signal light along the tapering length of the optical-fiber bundle, the tapering length was optimized to 18 mm. Signal-light insertion loss, pump-light transmittance, and polarization extinction ratio of the fabricated $(18+1){\times}1$ pump combiner were measured as 6.5%, 98.07%, and 18.0 dB respectively. The temperature distribution of the pump combiner, at a high power of 2 kW using 18 pump laser diodes, was measured and analyzed using a thermal-imaging camera.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.1 no.5
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• pp.525-528
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• 2017

High-energy, high-power, quasi-continuous wave (QCW) operation of double-clad Yb fiber lasers incorporating an incoherent signal combiner is reported. We constructed four efficient, high-power Yb fiber lasers, each of which produced rectangular pulses at 1080 nm with a pulse energy greater than 15 J, and a pulse duration of 10 ms at a repetition rate of 10 Hz, corresponding to an average power of over 150 W and a peak power of over 1.5 kW for ~200 W of incident pump power at 915 nm. These laser outputs were combined by a homemade incoherent fiber signal combiner with low loss, yielding a maximum peak power of ~6.0 kW in a beam with $M^2{\approx}12.5$. The detailed laser characteristics and prospects for further power scaling in QCW operation are discussed.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.714-721
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• 2022

A phase-locked loop (PLL)-based frequency synthesizer is proposed for a system on a chip (SoC) using multi-frequency clock signals. The proposed PLL-based frequency synthesizer consists of a charge pump PLL which is implemented by a phase frequency detector (PFD), a charge pump (CP), a loop filter, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), and a frequency divider, and an edge combiner. The PLL outputs a 12-phase clock by a VCO using six differential delay cells. The edge combiner synthesizes the frequency of the output clock through edge combining and frequency division of the 12-phase output clock of the PLL. The proposed PLL-based frequency synthesizer is designed using a 55-nm CMOS process with a 1.2-V supply voltage. It outputs three clocks with frequencies of 166 MHz, 83 MHz and 124.5MHz for a reference clock with a frequency of 20.75 MHz.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2020

In this paper, we experimentally investigate the fiber fuse in single-mode 2-kW-class high-power fiber amplifiers, depending on the cooling method at the splicing point. We measured the temperature of the splicing point between the pump-signal combiner and gain fiber as a function of laser output power. The temperature of the splicing point increased from 20 to 32℃ with a slope of 0.01℃/W, up to 1.2 kW of laser output power. At higher powers the temperature of the splicing point increased dramatically, with a slope of 0.08℃/W. After that, the fiber amplifier was destroyed during operation at 1.96 kW of output power by fiber fuse. The bullet shape, a common feature of fiber fuse, was observed in the damaged passive fiber core of the pump-signal combiner. Later, we adopted an improved water-cooled cold plate to increase the cooling efficiency at the splicing point, and investigated the laser output power. The temperature at the splicing point was 35.8℃ with a temperature-rise slope of 0.007℃/W at the maximum output power of 2.05 kW. The beam quality M² was measured to be less than 1.3, and the output beam's profile was a stable Gaussian shape. Finally, neither fiber fuse nor mode instability was observed in the fiber amplifier at the maximum output power of 2.05 kW.