Sep. 30, 2024
The First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier, -
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In , Elias Snitzer and colleagues constructed and operated the world's first optical fiber laser in the former American Optical complex at 14 Mechanic Street. Three years later this team demonstrated the first optical fiber amplifier. Fiber lasers that can cut and weld steel have since become powerful industrial tools and fiber amplifiers routinely boost signals in the global optical fiber network allowing messages to cross oceans and continents without interruption.
The plaque may be viewed on the Southbridge Massachusetts Town Common on Main Street, Southbridge, MA, U.S.A. directly across from the old American Optical main plant where the work took place, and near the eyeglass sculpture. The Common is public land owned by Southbridge. On 23 January, the Southbridge Town Council granted permission to place the Milestone plaque in the Common.
The IEEE Milestone Plaque in the town commons
Aerial postcard of the AO plant (ca ).
Elias Snitzer, and colleagues developed the first working optical fiber laser and amplifier between and at the old American Optical plant in Southbridge MA. The development of the fiber laser drew from Snitzer's earlier work culminating in the first solid-state laser made of glass in plus his work in optical fibers in which he was the first to report the theory and observation of modes in an optical fiber. This ground-breaking combination of these two then-young technologies was many years ahead of its time.
Snitzer is shown (below right) with a Nd-doped glass rod in a photo from the early s. Historical images of the American Optical plant from that period are also shown below.
Elias Snitzer at American Optical with Nd-glass rod circa early 60s -003.jpg
The advent of optical fiber amplifiers was vital in building the high-speed backbone of the global telecommunications network, which carries our words, pictures and data around the planet. More recently, fiber lasers have become powerful tools in manufacturing, generating multikilowatt beams that can cut and weld materials from plastics to metals.
Other early solid-state lasers, such as the ruby laser demonstrated by Theodore Maiman in , another IEEE Milestone, were made of bulk materials. The fiber laser uniquely transmits the light it generates along a light-guiding core, concentrating its energy in a small area inside the glass, and making it easy to transfer light from a fiber laser into a passive optical fiber for transmission.
Similarly, the optical fiber amplifier acts on light propagating in a fiber&#;s core. This became particularly important long after Spitzer&#;s work when fiber-optic communications emerged in the s. Optical signals needed to be amplified after passing through tens of kilometers of glass and initially this required converting the signals into electronic form for amplification. Innovations by Payne and others (see below) led to the development of optical fiber amplifiers which could boost signals in the important 1.5 micron telecommunications wavelength band. The advent of optical fiber amplifiers suitable for communications enabled today&#;s broad-band fiber networks which carry signals across continents and under oceans and provide the bandwidth necessary to transmit our words, pictures and data around the planet without interruption.
This work is documented in the following articles:
E. Snitzer and J. W. Hicks, "Optical Wave-Guide Modes in Small Glass Fibers, I Theoretical," paper TB36, Program of the Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, Vol 49, p. , November .
H. Osterberg, E. Snitzer, M. Polanyi, R. Hilberg, "Optical Wave-Guide Modes in Small Glass Fibers, II Experimental," paper TB37, Program of the Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, Vol 49, p. , November .
E. Snitzer, "Optial MASER Action of Nd+3 in a barium Crown Glass," Physical Review Letters, Volume 7, Number 12, pp. 444-446, December 15, .
Charles J. Koester and Elias Snitzer, "Amplification in a Fiber Laser," Applied Optics, Volume 3, Number 10, pp. -, October, .
The work that led to today&#;s communications optical fiber amplifiers is documented in a number of publications including the following:Poole, S. B., Payne, D. N., and Fermann, M. E.: 'Fabrication of low-loss optical fibres containing rare-earth ions', Electron. Lett.,, 21, pp. 737-738, August .R. J. Mears, L. Reekie, I.M. Jauncey, D. N. Payne, "Low-Noise Erbium-Doped Fibre Amplifier Operating at 1.54um," Electronics Letters, Vol 23, No. 19, September .E. Desurvire, J. R. Simpson, P. C. Becker, "High-gain erbium-doped traveling-wave fiber amplifier," Optics Letters, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 888-890, November .
Fiber lasers also have proved exceptionally well suited for efficiently generating high-quality beams with powers reaching many kilowatts in strength, greatly expanding the applications of lasers in cutting, welding and other machining of materials.
Map of AO complex ()
Map
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Fiber lasers are everywhere in the modern world. Due to the different wavelengths they can generate, they are widely used in industrial environments to perform cutting, marking, welding, cleaning, texturing, drilling and a lot more. They are also used in other fields such as telecommunication and medicine.
Fiber lasers use an optical fiber cable made of silica glass to guide light. The resulting laser beam is more precise than with other types of lasers because it is straighter and smaller. They also have a small footprint, good electrical efficiency, low maintenance and low operating costs.
If you want to learn everything you need to know about fiber lasers, keep reading.
Elias Snitzer invented the fiber laser in and demonstrated its use in . Serious commercial applications only emerged in the s, however.
Why did it take so long? The main reason is that fiber laser technology was still in its infancy. For example, fiber lasers could only emit a few tens of milliwatts whereas most applications require at least 20 watts. There was also no means of generating high-quality pump light, as laser diodes did not perform as well as today.
Here are some of the key moments in the history of fiber laser technology, going back as early as when Albert Einstein established its foundations.
Today, important advances are still being made in fiber laser technology, making it more efficient, powerful and accessible. Some of the most upcoming applications include laser cleaning and laser texturing, which can replace polluting technologies and help make the world greener.
Generally speaking, fiber lasers can be categorized using the following criteria:
Fiber lasers can be categorized in many other ways, but the categories mentioned here are the most common. Follow these links if you want to see examples of fiber lasers integrated into products:
The main difference between fiber and CO2 lasers is the source where the laser beam is created. In fiber lasers, the laser source is silica glass mixed with a rare-earth element. In CO2 lasers, the laser source is a mixture of gases which includes carbon dioxide.
Due to the state of their source, fiber lasers are considered solid-state lasers, and CO2 lasers are considered gas-state lasers.
These laser sources also produce different wavelengths. Fiber lasers, for example, produce shorter wavelengths, with some examples ranging between 780 nm and nm. CO2 lasers, on the other hand, produce longer wavelengths that typically range between 9,600 nm and 10,600 nm.
They are used for different applications due to their different wavelengths. For example, nm fiber lasers are usually preferred for metal processing applications. Laser cutting is a notable exception, where CO2 lasers are often preferred to cut metals. CO2 lasers also react well with organic materials.
If you&#;re debating between the two, read our post on choosing between a CO2 and a fiber laser.
When a fiber laser system is engineered into a solution that is ready to be used, that solution is called a fiber laser machine. Whereas the OEM laser system is the tool that performs the operation, the laser machine is the framework in which the tool is integrated.
Laser machines can make sure that:
For example, the fiber laser machine shown here includes a rotary table, a rotary indexer, a Class-1 laser safety enclosure, a fume extractor, a vision camera and an HMI.
Follow these links if you want to see more examples of fiber laser machines:
Most online sources claim that fiber lasers last 100,000 hours whereas CO2 lasers last 30,000 hours. This is not entirely true. These numbers refer to a value called &#;mean time between failures&#; (MTBF), which isn&#;t the same for all fiber lasers. In reality, you will see different numbers for different types of fiber lasers.
For more Single Table Fiber Laser Cutting Machineinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
The MTBF measures the reliability of a laser by indicating how many hours the laser is expected to function before a failure occurs. It is obtained by testing multiple laser units, and then dividing the total number of operational hours by the total number of failures.
Although this value does not exactly tell you how long a fiber laser can last, it still provides a good idea of the laser&#;s reliability.
If you really want to know the exact lifespan of a fiber laser, you'll be disappointed as there&#;s no real answer. In truth, fiber lasers have critical points in their lifetime when they can fail.
Here&#;s what you need to know if your laser experiences failures at any of these moments:
Fiber lasers use pump light from what is called laser diodes. These diodes emit light that is sent into the fiber-optic cable. Optical components located in the cable are then used to generate a specific wavelength and amplify it. Finally, the resulting laser beam is shaped and released.
Here&#;s how each component is used to perform this operation.
Laser diodes transform electricity into photons&#;or light&#; to be pumped into the fiber-optic cable. For this reason, they are also known as the &#;pump source&#;
To generate light, diodes use two semiconductors charged differently:
When the positive and negative charges meet, they try to combine. But to do so, the free electron must be released as a photon. As current flows through the semiconductors, the quantity of photons quickly increases.
The resulting light is pumped into the fiber-optic cable and will be used to generate the laser beam.
In nature, light goes in all directions. To focus light into a single direction and obtain a laser beam, fiber-optic cables use two basic components: the fiber core and the cladding.
Total internal reflection occurs because the cladding has a lower refractive index than the core. You can see similar effects in nature. For example, if you look at submerged objects, they appear deformed. This is because when light travels from air to water, it hits a different refractive index and changes direction. The same applies when light travels from the core to the cladding, except that the change in direction produces a reflection.
Without the cladding, light would go in all directions and exit the core. But thanks to the cladding&#;s refractive index, light remains in the core and continues its path.
To visualize how light travels in fiber cables, you can watch this video:
As pump light travels through the fiber-optic cable, it eventually enters the laser cavity&#;a small region of the cable where only light of a specific wavelength is produced. Physical engineers say that the fiber is &#;doped&#; in this region because it has been mixed with a rare-earth element.
As particles from the doped fiber interact with light, their electrons rise to a higher energy level. When they fall back to their basic state, they release energy in the form of photons or light. Physical engineers refer to these phenomena as &#;electron excitation&#; and &#;electron relaxation&#;.
The laser cavity also acts as a resonator where light bounces back and forth between what is called &#;fiber Bragg gratings&#;. This leads to &#;Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation&#;, or LASER. Put simply, this is where the laser beam is formed.
There are two types of Bragg gratings:
Here&#;s how amplification takes place: when photons hit other excited particles, these particles also release photons; since the Bragg gratings reflect photons back into the cavity, and more pump light is sent into the cavity, an exponential number photons are released.
As a result of this stimulated emission of radiation, laser light is created.
The wavelength produced by the doped fiber varies according to the doping element of the laser cavity. This is very important, as different wavelengths are used for different applications. The doping element could be erbium, ytterbium, neodymium, thulium, and so on. Ytterbium-doped fiber lasers, for example, generate a wavelength of nm and are used for applications like laser marking and laser cleaning.
Different doping elements produce different wavelengths because specific particles release specific photons. As such, photons generated in the laser cavity all have the same wavelength. This explains why each type of fiber laser generates a specific wavelength&#;and only that wavelength.
Photons that exit the resonant cavity form a laser beam that is extremely well collimated (or straight) due to the fiber&#;s light guiding properties. In fact, it is too collimated for most laser applications.
To give the laser beam a desirable shape, different components can be used, such as lenses and beam expanders. For example, our fiber lasers are equipped with a 254 mm focal length lens for laser applications that dig into the material (i.e., laser engraving and laser texturing). This is because their short focal length allows us to focus more energy onto an area for a more aggressive form of laser ablation.
Other types of lenses provide different advantages, which is why experts choose them carefully when optimizing a laser for a specific application.
Not all lasers and laser applications use the same parameters. For example, different ones need to be adjusted for laser cutting and laser marking. Some parameters, however, are used for all types of fiber lasers. Here are the ones you are most likely to encounter.
The wavelength produced by a fiber laser corresponds to the level of electromagnetic radiation of the laser light. Typically, fiber lasers produce wavelengths between 780 nm and nm, which is located in the infrared spectrum and is invisible to the human eye. This range of infrared light tends to react well with metals, rubber and plastics, making it useful for a wide range of materials processing applications.
Some fiber lasers such as green lasers produce visible light which can react well with soft materials such as gold, copper, silicone and soft glass. Green fiber lasers are also used for holography, therapy and surgery, among other things.
These lasers require additional components to generate visible light. John Wallace from Laser Focus World explains how this is done:
[&#;] there is actually no fiber laser on the market that produces visible laser light from within the lasing fiber itself. Visible light can, however, be obtained from a near-infrared (IR)-emitting fiber laser by external frequency conversion&#;for example, Raman-shifting, frequency-doubling, frequency sum-mixing, or combinations of these approaches.
Excerpt from
Photonics Products: Fiber Lasers: Visible fiber lasers do red, green, and now bluishby
Laser Focus World
The mode of operation is the way in which the laser beam is released. Fiber lasers typically operate in the continuous-wave or in the pulsed mode.
In the continuous-wave operation mode, a continuous, uninterrupted laser beam is released, which is ideal for applications like laser welding and laser cutting.
In the pulsed operation mode, short pulses are released at a set repetition rate. Pulsed laser beams reach higher peak powers and are ideal for laser engraving and laser cleaning. This mode includes the following parameters:
The laser power is the amount of energy that can be produced by the laser over one second. It is also known as &#;average power&#; and &#;output power&#;.
Pulsed lasers may also indicate a peak power, which is a different parameter. The peak power is the maximum amount of energy reached by a single pulse. For example, a 100W pulsed fiber laser can easily reach 10,000W of peak power. This is because pulsed lasers do not distribute energy evenly over time as opposed to continuous-wave lasers.
The beam quality indicates how close the beam is to what is called a Gaussian beam. In actual applications, this is relevant because it indicates how well focused the laser beam is.
Mathematically speaking, a perfect beam quality is expressed as M2=1. Laser beams that are well-focused concentrate more energy in a smaller area. High-quality laser beams are required for applications like laser engraving and laser cleaning, whereas lower beam qualities may be more appropriate for applications where ablation is not desired, such as laser welding.
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