光子带隙光纤有着独特的结构形式、传输介质和导光机制，这使其具有传统光纤无法比拟的优点，是未来光纤陀螺的理想选择。但光子带隙光纤粗糙的纤芯内壁导致其产生强烈的背向散射次波，会使光子带隙光纤陀螺产生额外的非互易误差。为了定量分析光子带隙光纤背向散射次波强度大小，论文基于电偶极子辐射理论建立了一种简单的光子带隙光纤背向散射次波理论模型。通过聚焦离子束微纳加工法和原子力显微镜测量得到了准确的纤芯内壁表面形貌功率谱密度，进而计算得到HC-1550-02型光子带隙光纤背向散射系数理论值为2.61×10^-9/mm。通过光频域背向反射散射仪得到HC-1550-02型光子带隙光纤背向散射系数测量值为~1.82×10^-9/mm，初步验证了背向散射次波模型的正确性，为背向散射次波抑制技术研究奠定了基础。

A low-numerical-aperture (NA) concept enables large-mode-area fiber with better single-mode operation ability, which is beneficial for transverse mode instability and nonlinear effects suppression. In this contribution, we reported a high-power fiber amplifier based on a piece of self-developed large-mode-area low-NA fiber with a core NA of 0.049 and a core/inner cladding diameter of 25/400 µm. The influence of the pump wavelength and fiber length on the power scaling potential of the fiber amplifier is systematically investigated. As a result, an output of 4.80 kW and a beam quality factor of ∼1.33 were finally obtained, which is the highest output power ever reported in a fiber amplifier exploiting the low-NA fiber. The results reveal that low-NA fibers have superiority in power scaling and beam quality maintenance at high power levels.

High-power ultrafast laser amplification based on a non-polarization maintaining fiber chirped pulse amplifier is demonstrated. The active polarization control technology based on the root-mean-square propagation (RMS-prop) algorithm is employed to guarantee a linearly polarized output from the system. A maximum output power of 402.3 W at a repetition rate of 80 MHz is realized with a polarization extinction ratio (PER) of > 11.4 dB. In addition, the reliable operation of the system is verified by examining the stability and noise properties of the amplified laser. The M² factor of the laser beam at the highest output power is measured to be less than 1.15, indicating a diffraction-limited beam quality. Finally, the amplified laser pulse is temporally compressed to 755 fs with a highest average power of 273.8 W. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that the active polarization control technology was introduced into the high-power ultrafast fiber amplifier.

All-fiber few-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (FM-EDFAs) with isolation and wavelength division multiplexers (IWDMs) have been developed to enable flexible pumping in different directions. The FM-EDFA can achieve >30 dB modal gain with <0.3 dB differential modal gain (DMG). We experimentally simulate the DMG performance of a cascade FM-EDFA system using the equivalent spectrum method. The overall DMG reaches 1.84 dB after 10-stage amplification. We also build a recirculating loop to simulate the system, and the developed FM-EDFA can support transmission up to 3270 km within a 2 dB overall DMG by optimizing the few-mode fiber length in the loop.

Random lasers are a type of lasers that lack typical resonator structures, offering benefits such as easy integration, low cost, and low spatial coherence. These features make them popular for speckle-free imaging and random number generation. However, due to their high threshold and phase instability, the production of picosecond random lasers has still been a challenge. In this work, we have developed three dyes incorporating polymer optical fibers doped with various scattering nanoparticles to produce short-pulsed random fiber lasers. Notably, stable picosecond random laser emission lasting 600 ps is observed at a low pump energy of 50 µJ, indicating the gain-switching mechanism. Population inversion and gain undergo an abrupt surge as the intensity of the continuously pumped light nears the threshold level. When the intensity of the continuously pumped light reaches a specific value, the number of inversion populations in the “scattering cavity” surpasses the threshold rapidly. Simulation results based on a model that considers power-dependent gain saturation confirmed the above phenomenon. This research helps expand the understanding of the dynamics behind random medium-stimulated emission in random lasers and opens up possibilities for mode locking in these systems.