Pulsed Fibre Lasers

We are the world’s leading research group in developing pulsed fibre lasers since they were first demonstrated in the mid-1980s. Our research focuses on:

• developing high-power, high-energy fibre lasers and amplifiers
• extending laser wavelengths from UV to mid-IR
• tailoring the pulse characteristics to suit a range of applications
• managing nonlinearity and dispersion in pulsed fibre laser systems
• developing reliable, practical, and low-cost pulsed fibre laser systems
• shaping the spatial and temporal profile of the laser pulses
• exploring new applications in biomedical imaging and advanced material processing
• developing new fibres (e.g. multicore fibres, multimode fibres, hollow core fibres), components and amplifiers
• applying various beam shaping and coherent beam combing (CBC) techniques
• delivering high power lasers through optical fibre

Background  

A pulsed fibre laser is a type of laser that emits high intensity light pulses in a short burst mode (typically ranging from fs to ns) and uses optical fibres as a laser gain medium. It can produce extremely high peak powers, which is very useful in variety of material processing, micromachining, laser surgery, and scientific applications.

The pulses emitted by a pulsed fibre laser can be generated using a variety of techniques, including Q-switching, gain-switching, and mode-locking and it has various attractive features, including:

• wide selection of operation wavelengths (from UV to mid IR)
• pulse repetition rate from kHz to MHz
• average power from 1 to 100W
• pulse peak power from kW to MW
• excellent beam quality