Table of Contents
Overview of Ytterbium-Doped Fiber Laser Capabilities
Ytterbium-doped fiber lasers work in a near-infrared spectral window and are capable of high-power operation. They have gained popularity in the recent years due to their high-energy wideband operation. A wide range of physical attributes, like single longitudinal mode, also knows as single frequency, broad gain bandwidth, high power efficiency, outstanding thermo-optical properties and fully alignment-free design, makes them attractive for numerous applications, for example, light bullet generation, optical frequency comb formation, materials fabrication, free-space laser communication, and biomedical diagnostics.
Current Progress and Limitations in Ytterbium Fiber Lasers
The high demand for ytterbium-doped fiber lasers has forced the fiber laser manufacturers to develop high-power ytterbium fiber lasers that are capable of producing femtosecond pulses. The continuous wave, femtosecond, picosecond operations of the ytterbium-doped fiber lasers have been intensively demonstrated.
Spectral Gaps and the Need for Hyperspectral Capability
Despite the recent developments in scientific fiber laser systems, ytterbium-doped fiber lasers are still limited in the spectral bands: 970-980 nm and 1030-1100 nm. The development of ytterbium fiber lasers that bridge this wavelength gap is important to achieve hyperspectral capability which is important for certain applications, some of which include multicolor two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) microscopy, hyperspectral coherent Raman scattering microscopy, etc. Fiber lasers doped with ytterbium will be able to interact with widely used biomolecules and dyes, reducing the illumination power required to work with the dyes.
Femtosecond ytterbium-doped fiber lasers are the most promising as they compare with visible light and can penetrate deeper into biological tissue without inflicting damage. The properties of femtosecond pulse fiber lasers are highly desirable for the following applications: advanced 3D micro-/ nano-structure processing, biological imaging, optical frequency comb formation.