The imaging speed of optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) using pulsed excitation is fundamentally limited by the range ambiguity condition, which defines the maximum laser pulse repetition frequency (PRF). To operate at this theoretical upper limit and maximize acquisition speed, a custom-built fiber laser capable of operating at a PRF of up to 2 MHz was combined with a fast laser scanning optical OR-PAM system based on a stationary fiber-optic ultrasound sensor. A large area (10 mm × 10 mm) of the mouse ear was imaged within 8 s, when acquiring 16 million A-lines and operating the laser at a PRF of 2 MHz. This corresponds to a factor of four improvement in imaging speed compared to the fastest OR-PAM system previously reported. The ability to operate at high-imaging frame rates also allows the capture of hemodynamic events such as blood flow. It is considered that this system offers opportunities for high throughput imaging and visualizing dynamic physiological events using OR-PAM.
Photoacoustic signals are typically generated using Q-switched Nd:YAG pumped OPO systems, as they can provide the necessary nanosecond pulse durations with mJ pulse energies required for photoacoustic tomography. However, these sources are often bulky, require external water cooling and regular maintenance and provide low pulse repetition frequencies (PRF<100Hz) thus limiting image frame rate.
Fibre lasers can overcome these limitations and additionally offer much greater flexibility in their temporal output characteristics (e.g. pulse shaping and duration). Although fibre lasers have been used in optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy, they have found limited application in widefield photoacoustic tomography (PAT) due to the relatively low pulse energy (<1mJ) provided by commercial systems. These low pulse energies are a consequence of small core diameter (<25m) fibres required to achieve a high beam quality. However, for widefield PAT, high beam quality is not a requirement and therefore fibre lasers with larger core diameters (>100m) can be used, enabling significantly higher pulse energies (>10mJ) to be achieved.
A novel compact fibre laser which uses a custom drawn large core diameter fibre (100m) to provide high pulse energies (15mJ) and variable PRFs (100Hz-1kHz) and pulse durations (10-400ns) has been developed and evaluated. The fibre laser was combined with a fast Fabry Perot (FP) scanner in order to evaluate its suitability for PAT of biological tissue. The high PRF (>400Hz) of the laser has allowed tomographic images of the microvasculature of the palm of a hand to be obtained in less than one second, significantly quicker than previously achieved with a FP scanner. In addition, the ability to arbitrarily vary the temporal shape of the laser pulse offers new opportunities for controlling the acoustic frequency content of the photoacoustic signal in order to optimise penetration depth and image resolution. For example, the laser pulse duration can be increased in order to shift the acoustic frequency components to lower frequencies which are less attenuated by tissue acoustic absorption and thus improve SNR. To investigate these concepts, a tissue mimicking phantom was imaged for a range of tailored excitation pulses (e.g. different pulse durations, trains of pulses) and their effect on the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and image resolution observed.
A novel compact fibre laser, able to provide higher pulse energies (>10mJ) than previously reported and with enhanced functionality is presented. It is demonstrated that fibre lasers are a viable alternative to standard Q-switched lasers for photoacoustic tomographic applications in medicine and biology.
We have demonstrated Raman frequency conversion and supercontinuum light generation in a hollow core Kagomé fiber filled with air at atmospheric pressure, and developed a numerical model able to explain the results with good accuracy. A solid-state disk laser was used to launch short pulses (~6ps) at 1030nm into an in-house fabricated hollow core Kagomé fiber with negative core curvature and both ends were open to the atmosphere. The fiber had a 150 THz wide transmission window and a record low loss of ~12 dB/km at the pump wavelength. By gradually increasing the pulse energy up to 250 μJ, we observed the onset of different Kerr and Raman based optical nonlinear processes, resulting in a supercontinuum spanning from 850 to 1600 nm at maximum input power. In order to study the pulse propagation dynamics of the experiment, we used a generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation (GNLSE). Our simulations showed that the use of a conventional damping oscillator model for the time-dependent response of the rotational Raman component of air was not accurate enough at such high intensities and large pulse widths. Therefore, we adopted a semiquantum Raman model for air, which included the full rotational and vibrational response, and their temperature-induced broadening. With this, our GNLSE results matched well the experimental data, which allowed us to clearly identify the nonlinear phenomena involved in the process. Aside from the technological interest in the high spectral density of the supercontinuum demonstrated, the validated numerical model can provide a valuable optimization tool for gas based nonlinear processes in air-filled fibers.
Space division multiplexing (SDM) utilizing few-mode fibers or multicore fibers supporting multiple spatial channels, is currently under intense investigation as an efficient approach to overcome the current capacity limit of high-speed long-haul transmission systems based on single mode optical fibers. In order to realize the potential energy and cost savings offered by SDM systems, the individual spatial channels should be simultaneously multiplexed, transmitted, amplified and switched with associated SDM components and subsystems. In this paper, recent progress on the implementation of various SDM amplifiers and its related SDM components is presented.
Two custom fibre lasers have been developed. One is designed for widefield photoacoustic tomography (PAT) and uses a custom drawn large core diameter fibre (100μm) to provide high pulse energies (5mJ). It also provides a variable pulse repetition frequency (100Hz-400Hz) and pulse duration (10-150ns) and is compact (of comparable dimensions to a desktop PC) and does not require external water cooling. This system was used to acquire in vivo images of the subcutaneous microvasculature in the human palm. The second laser is designed for Optical Resolution Photoacoustic Microscopy (OR-PAM) and provides a high quality beam (M2<1.1), pulse energies >1μJ with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) up to 2MHz, and a 532nm emission wavelength. The high PRF of this laser was exploited for ultra-fast image acquisition. The compact size and enhanced functionality of these lasers offers a major opportunity to facilitate the translation of photoacoustic imaging to practical applications in medicine and biology.
We demonstrate a 60μm core diameter single-trench Yb free Er-La-Al doped fiber having 0.038 ultra-low-NA, using conventional MCVD process in conjunction with solution doping process. Numerical simulations ensure an effective single mode, the effective area varies from 1,820μm2 to 1,960μm2 for different thicknesses of trenches and resonant rings. This fiber has been fabricated with conventional fabrication process, which can dramatically reduce the fabrication cost, hence suitable for mass production. Moreover, all solid structure ensures easy cleaving and splicing. Experimental measurements demonstrate a robust effective single mode operation. Furthermore, this fiber in 4%-4% laser cavity shows a record efficiency of 46% with respect to absorbed power.
We present a mode-locked VECSEL emitting 400-fs pulses at a 3 GHz repetition rate at 1040 nm, amplified by a cascaded ytterbium doped fiber amplifier system to an average power of 40 W. The 3-ps duration amplified pulses are recompressed to their original 400-fs duration using a high-throughput transmission grating compressor. The recompressed pulses are used to generate supercontinuum with two different photonic crystal fibers (PCFs); an all-normal dispersion PCF and a PCF with a zero-dispersion wavelength at 1040 nm, creating spectra with 20 dB bandwidths of 200 nm with 3.9 W average power and 280 nm with 2.5 W average power respectively.
We demonstrate a lithium triborate (LBO) optical parametric oscillator (OPO), which is synchronously pumped with a
pulse-compressed and frequency-doubled master-oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) system consisting of a gain-switched
laser diode and a series of Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifiers. The 20ps pulses from the MOPA were
compressed in a transmission grating compressor down to 4.4ps with a throughput efficiency of ~70% and subsequently
frequency-doubled with an efficiency of ~60% in a 20mm long LBO to a maximum of ~25W. With a typical pump
power of 17W for the OPO, we obtained a maximum combined signal and idler output power of 2.5W (at 877nm) and
1.7W (at 1.3μm). Individually, a maximum signal power of up to 3.7W at 740 nm was obtained with a signal pulse
duration of ~3.2ps. The OPO was widely tunable from 651nm-1040nm (signal) and from 1081nm-2851nm (idler). To
the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power from a green-pumped LBO OPO. The fiber-based pump
source can potentially be operated between 100MHz and 1GHz, which in combination with the few-picosecond pulses
and the near-IR tunability of the OPO is a very attractive source for nonlinear microscopy.
We report a large aperture PPMgLN based OPO generating 21W of average output power at a slope efficiency of 45%,
pumped by the output from a polarization maintaining Ytterbium doped fiber MOPA operating at 1060nm producing
58W of average output power and 20ns pulses at a repetition rate of 100kHz. A maximum of 5.5W of optical power was
recorded at the idler wavelength of 3.82μm without thermal roll-off. We have experimentally verified that the pulse
rise/fall time plays a significant role in the OPO conversion efficiency and that further enhancement in the OPO
conversion efficiency will be possible using sub-nanosecond rise and fall times.
We demonstrate an inband, core-pumped master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) with a maximum pulse
energy of 1.56 mJ at a repetition rate of 1.25 kHz, seeded by an actively Q-switched Erbium/Ytterbium-codoped fiber
(EYDF) ring laser, producing 150-ns pulses at 1562.5 nm. To maximize energy extraction whilst minimizing signal
saturation effects, a 40μm Er3+-doped larger mode area (LMA) fiber was used as the gain medium. A 1535 nm single
mode fiber laser was used for in-band pumping of the LMA fiber. The output beam quality (M2) was measured to be
~1.6. This is to the best of our knowledge is the highest reported pulse energy for a pulse fiber laser at 1.5 μm with
M2~1.6.
We present remote measurements from a large-scale interferometric optical sensor system, using a 500km optical
transmission link between interrogator and sensor array, 3 times longer than the longest reported so far to our knowledge.
A phase noise floor of -80dB re 1 rad·Hz-0.5 peak was achieved (equivalent to 1 mPa·Hz-0.5). 256 sensors may be
interrogated via the link using a single fibre pair, making the system highly suitable for remote interrogation of large
scale sensor arrays for applications such as seismic and acoustic sensing. Eight amplified 125km spans using standard
Corning SMF-28 single mode fibre form the transmission link.
The use of a pulsed fibre laser as an excitation source for photoacoustic tomography has been investigated. Fibre lasers
have the advantage of being compact, robust and efficient compared to traditional excitation sources used for
photoacoustic tomography (e.g. Q-switched Nd:YAG pumped OPO or dye systems). Their high pulse repetition
frequencies and adjustable pulse duration, shape and duty cycle also enables a wide range of time and frequency domain
excitation methods to be investigated. A 1060nm, 20W fibre laser was used to generate acoustic waves in a tissue
mimicking phantom composed of blood filled tubes immersed in a 1% solution of intralipid (μ's=1mm-1) . The laser was
then combined with a Fabry Perot photoacoustic imaging system to obtain 3D images of a tissue mimicking phantom and
an in vivo image of the vasculature of the palm of a volunteer. This study has demonstrated that pulsed fibre lasers have
potential application as an excitation source for photoacoustic imaging of superficial blood vessels.
We report the simultaneous excitation of multiple Raman Stokes lines in a 250 m long fiber using multi-step pump
pulses. The frequency doubled output of a single polarization all-fiber Yb-doped MOPA operating at 1060 nm was used
as the pump source. By adjusting the pump power and the pulse profiles we achieved the simultaneous excitation of
green (1st Stokes), yellow (4th Stokes) and red light (6th Stokes) using 3-step pulses or the combination of any two using
2-step pulses. Through the use of pulse shaping we generate sequences of colored pulses with the flexibility of providing
dynamic, agile frequency tuning between well-defined wavelengths.
We report recent advances in the development of fibers for the delivery and generation of both single-mode and heavily
multimode laser beams as well as recent progress in fibers for supercontinuum generation in spectral regimes spanning
the visible to mid-IR.
We demonstrate the selective excitation of Raman Stokes lines of up-to 9th order with relatively high extinction ratio
pumped by rectangular shaped optical pulses at 530 nm of 100 ns duration. The rectangular shaped optical pulses at 530
nm were generated by frequency doubling of an adaptively pulse shaped fiber MOPA operating at 1060 nm. This kind of
pulse shape is optimal for frequency conversion since all parts of the pulse experiences the same Raman gain. Therefore,
it is possible for a pulse to transfer all of its energy through sequential frequency Raman shifts to successive order Stokes
components. Consequently, by adjusting the pump power it is possible to achieve selective excitation of the Raman shift
with little residual pump powers. Here, we have achieved extinction ratio as much as 15 dB from successive Stokes lines
by coupling 530 nm light in a 1 km long Pirelli Freelight fiber. In addition, we were able to obtain up-to 9th order Stokes
shift by launching 5 W of average pump power to the Raman gain medium. Maximum Stokes shifted power of 54 mW
was recorded for a launched pump power of 5W. We attribute this to the large background loss of silica fibre in the
visible region.
We report the realisation of a high power, picosecond pulse source at 530 nm pumped by an all-fiber, single mode,
single polarisation, Yb-doped MOPA. The pump MOPA comprised of a gain switched seed source generating 20 ps
pulse source at a repetition frequency of 910 MHz followed by three amplification stages. Output power in excess of 100
W was obtained at 85% slope efficiency with respect to launched pump power at 975 nm. A 15mm long LBO crystal
was used to frequency double the single mode, single polarisation output of the fiber MOPA. To satisfy the phase
matching condition, the internal temperature of the LBO crystal was maintained at 1550C. Frequency doubled power in
excess of 55 W was obtained at 56% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency. Output power at 530 nm started to roll-off
after 50 W due to self-phase modulation (SPM) assisted spectral broadening of the fundamental light within the final
stage amplifier. Measured spectral bandwidth of the frequency doubled signal remained at ~0.4 nm with the increase in
fundamental power even though that of the fundamental increased steadily with output power and reached to a value of
0.9 nm at 100 W output power.
Results are presented for generation of visible and mid-IR output using a common fibre-based laser pump source. This
source comprised a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration incorporating a semiconductor seed source.
Operation in the nanosecond and picosecond range is possible via use of the appropriate seed source. The MOPA is
capable of generating 100 W average power in an output beam with an M2 of 1.1. Here the MOPA was operated in the
nanosecond regime, using 100 ns seed pulses at a pulse repetition frequency of 100 kHz. 40 W each of pump power was
available for a frequency doubling and an OPO stage. 9.8 W of green light was generated in an output beam with an M2
of 1.2; using a degenerate PPLN OPO 12.7 W of broadband mid-IR output, with a FWHM linewidth in excess of 170
nm, was generated.
Here we report a high power, pulsed optical parametric oscillator (OPO) at 3.5 μm by using a MgO:PPLN crystal as the
gain medium. The OPO itself was pumped by a semiconductor diode-seeded, Yb3+-doped fiber Master Oscillator Power
Amplifier (MOPA) operating at 1062nm. An OPO output power as high as 11W at an overall slope efficiency of 67%
was achieved, with nearly 2.7W and 8.2W of optical power obtained at 3.5μm and 1.5μm respectively. Due to the fast
response time of the external modulator, it is possible to implement active pulse shaping on a nanosecond time-scale.
Using adaptive pulse shaping of the seed laser (using an external modulator) we demonstrated a reduction in the impact
of dynamic gain saturation and optical Kerr/Raman nonlinearities within the fibre MOPA obtaining shaped signal and
idler pulses at the OPO output and reduced spectral bandwidths. We have also investigated the dependence of the OPO
build-up time and energy transfer efficiency on pump pulse peak power and shape. The build-up time shows an
exponential dependence on the pulse peak power and as expected decreases with an increase in pulse peak power.
Analyzing the shift in spectral peak at 1.5μm it is possible to estimate the internal temperature of the crystal for various
pump powers. Our experiments were pump-power limited and considerable scope remains for further power-scaling of
the OPO output using this approach.
We report high pulse energy actively Q-Switched fibre laser systems in MOPA and single stage configurations. The system was comprised of a Q-Switched master oscillator and power amplifier in either GTwave or end pumped fibres. A number of different fibre lengths and core diameters were used to explore the laser capabilities. A Q-Switched master oscillator operating at 10 kHz repetition rate with typical pulse durations of 40-50 ns at ~ 1070 nm is demonstrated. The laser operation was investigated for pulse repetition rate from 10 to 100 kHz for higher average output powers. After the power amplifier pulse energies as high as 1.1 mJ were obtained.
We assess different power limits of cladding-pumped fiber lasers. Despite recent advances in pump sources, these are still primarily limited by available pump power. We find that it should be possible to reach output powers beyond 1 kW in single-mode ytterbium doped fiber lasers. Experimentally, we have realized an ytterbium-doped fiber laser with 272 W of output power at 1080 nm, with an M2-value of 3.2, as well as an erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber laser with 103 W of output power at 1565 nm, with an M2-value of 2.0. We believe these are the highest-power ytterbium and erbium-ytterbium fiber lasers ever reported.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.