In this paper, a convenient and fast infrared range estimation method is proposed based on the combination of Fλ/d and Beer's law. On the one hand, the method takes advantage of the combination parameters Fλ/d, where λ is the wavelength, F is the optical f-number and d is the detector pitch. The Figure of Merit (FOM) based on Fλ/d provides a trade-off between optical blur, detector blur and pitch for staring array infrared imaging systems. By fitting polynomial function using Fλ/d as the variable, the infrared range of the target with high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) at short range can be estimated. However, as the range increases, SNR and Target Task Performance (TTP) decreases, which could result in a significant calculation error. To address this issue, Beer's law is also introduced as a simple atmospheric transmission model in this work, and the modified method can be compatible with the estimation of infrared range of long-range targets with low SNR.
Wavefront Coding (WFC) imaging systems can be considered as an effective and feasible technique to reduce retroreflection while maintaining good image quality, based on its advantage of high-quality imaging along with a wide range of defocusing. In this work, an anti-retroreflection imaging technique based on WFC with cubic Phase Mask (CPM) is proposed and an optical design example is also demonstrated to verify the feasibility of our proposal. Both the simulated Peak Normalized Cross-Correlation (PNCC) and the Optical Transfer Function (OTF) show that the optical system with CPM can achieve good image quality as well as substantial retroreflection reduction. Compared with the conventional optical system with no CPM, it is possible to dramatically reduce the reflected beam of the cat-eye by two orders of magnitude.
The work concerning the laser-induced damage under long-range (km-class) outdoor testing is very limited due to the difficult, laborious and time-consuming process. In this paper, we demonstrate a 1.5 km outdoor experiment of observing the laser-induced damage of CMOS imaging sensor and predicting the required pulse energy at other propagation lengths and visibility conditions theoretically. The outdoor experiment verifies that large amount of pixel permanent damage on a commercial visible-band CMOS camera can be produced by using the 532 nm pulsed laser with an output energy of higher than 50 mJ at a propagation range of 1.5 km and the atmospheric visibility of 10km. Meanwhile, the laser power density travelling through turbulent atmosphere is estimated theoretically by using a phase screen model. The required laser energy to damage the sensor for different propagation length or visibility condition could be predicted. The simulation results indicates that the atmospheric effects lead to significant impact to the spatial profile of laser beams at long propagation range, which should be considered and analyzed delicately when one is designing a laser countermeasure device.
In order to enhance the detection capability of “cat’s eye” effect existing in the photoelectronic equipment at long-range, we develop a laser active detection system in this paper. The parameters of laser transmitter and imaging system are well-designed based on the requirement of long-range active detection. The laser light is produced by a high energy pulsed laser at 532 nm, assembled with a beam expander which can achieve a tunable laser divergence angle from 0.03° to 5°, and the reflected light can be detected by a CMOS assembled with an long-focal-length optical lens. An experimental demonstration system is build up according to the system design, which can successfully detect a camera (Aperture-50 mm) at a detection range of 5.7 km, with no extra sophisticated signal processing schemes required. An evident “cat’s eye” target can be observed in the raw image from the digital camera (exposure time-3 ms) when the laser divergence angle is 3°, whose intensity is more than 3 times of the background. The results indicate that this work meets the demand of long-range laser active detection based on the “cat’s eye” effect.
KEYWORDS: Optical pumping, Fiber lasers, High power fiber lasers, Coating, Optical amplifiers, Signal attenuation, Fusion splicing, Fiber amplifiers, High power fiber amplifiers, Optical engineering
We investigate a (2+1)×1 side-pumping combiner numerically and experimentally for high-power fiber laser based on tandem pumping for the first time. The influence of taper ratio and launch mode on the 1018-nm pump coupling efficiency and the leakage power into the coating of the signal fiber (LPC) is analyzed numerically. A side-pumping combiner is developed successfully by tapered-fused splicing technique based on the numerical analysis, consisting of two pump fibers (220/242 μm, NA=0.22) and a signal fiber (40/400 μm, NA=0.06/0.46). The total 1018-nm pump efficiency of the combiner is 98.1%, and the signal light insertion loss is <3%. The results show that, compared with laser diodes pumping, the combiner appears to have a better LPC performance and power handling capability when using 1018-nm fiber as the pump light. Meanwhile, an all-fiber MOPA laser based on tandem pumping with 1080-nm output of 2533 W and the slope efficiency of 82.8% is achieved based on the home-made combiner.
We present an experimental study on low-threshold supercontinuum generation mainly based on cascaded stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) effect in a four-stage fiber master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system. The cascaded SRS is achieved by using a long passive fiber pumped by a pulsed fiber laser centered at 1064 nm wavelength. The cascaded SRS seed is amplified in a double-clad ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier, generating supercontinuum ranging from 960 nm to 1700 nm with 13.6 W maximum average output power and approximately 17.7 mW/nm average spectral power density.
Supercontinuum generation directly from a nonlinear fiber amplifier, especially from a nonlinear ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier, attracts more and more attention due to its all-fiber structure, high optical to optical conversion efficiency, and high power output potential. However, the modeling of supercontinuum generation from a nonlinear fiber amplifier has been rarely reported. In this paper, the modeling of a tapered Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier for visible extended to infrared supercontinuum generation is proposed based on the combination of the laser rate equations and the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier generally can not generate visible extended supercontinuum due to its pumping wavelength and zero-dispersion wavelength. However, appropriate tapering and four-wave mixing makes the visible extended supercontinuum generation from an ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier possible. Tapering makes the zero-dispersion wavelength of the ytterbium-doped fiber shift to the short wavelength and minimizes the dispersion matching. Four-wave mixing plays an important role in the visible spectrum generation. The influence of pulse width and pump power on the supercontinuum generation is calculated and analyzed. The simulation results imply that it is promising and possible to fabricate a visible-to-infrared supercontinuum with low pump power and flat spectrum by using the tapered ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier scheme as long as the related parameters are well-selected.
Supercontinuum has great potential in defense applications due to its wide spectrum, high coherence and high brightness, and it has attracted more and more attention across the world especially in the visible and mid-infrared region like 3-5μm which is the atmospheric transparency window. Higher power, wider spectrum, and better spectrum flatness will be the dominant pursuit for the future development of supercontinuum. Currently silica based fiber are the dominant host for visible to near-infrared supercontinuum generation, and soft glass like fluoride fiber, chalcogenide fiber and tellurite fiber are widely used for mid-infrared supercontinuum generation due to their lower loss in the mid-infrared region. In this paper, the generalized non-linear Schrödinger equation is used to simulate the visible to mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a tellurite fiber. A femtosecond laser at 1064 nm worked as the pump source. 1.5 μm and 2 μm lasers are generally first pump candidates to generate mid-infrared supercontinuum in tellurite glass because the zero-dispersion wavelength of the tellurite glasses is around 2.15 μm. However, 1064 nm laser has more advantages in application in terms of cost, structure, and power scaling, so it is meaningful to investigate whether 1064 nm laser can pump tellurite fiber to generate supercontinuum with wide bandwidth. The simulation results show that 500 nm-5000 nm supercontinuum can be generated in a tellurite fiber with less than 10 kW peak power for the pump laser, and the length of the tellurite fiber is only several millimeter. The simulation results provide important guidance for future supercontinuum development.
We report detailed theoretical analysis on the influence of the fused depth, launch mode and taper ratio on the performance of side-pumping combiner. The theoretical analysis indicates that the coupling efficiency and loss mechanism of the combiner is closely related to the fused depth, tapering ratio and the launch mode. Experimentally, we fabricate combiners consisting of two pump fibers (220/242 μm, NA=0.22) and a signal fiber (20/400 μm, NA=0.46). The combined pump coupling efficiency of two pump port is 97.2% with the maximum power handling of 1.8 kW and the insertion signal loss is less than 3%.
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