A large-mode-area (LMA) ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with core NA of 0.034 and core diameter of 50 μm was made by the stack-and-draw technique. The core is formed by Yb³⁺/Al³⁺/F /P⁵⁺ co-doped silica glass containing 0.09 mol% Yb₂O₃ with an absorption coefficient at 976 nm up to 3.2 dB/m. The core glass with homogeneous distribution of Yb³⁺ ions and refractive index difference of 4 × 10 ⁴ compared with pure silica was prepared by the sol-gel method and heat homogenization at 2000°C. Laser power amplification of this LMA PCF was studied using a seed source of 21 ps pulse duration and 48.7 MHz repetition rate at 1030 nm wavelength. With pump power of 520 W, a maximum 272 W (266 kW peak power) quasi-single-mode laser output with M² of 2.2 was achieved in a 4.7 m fiber length bent at a diameter of 47 cm with slope efficiency of 52%, and no obvious mode instability, stimulated Raman scattering, or thermal damage on the end facet of the fiber were observed.

A saturable absorber is commonly employed to generate an ultrashort laser with a mode-locking scheme. In an erbium-doped fiber laser system, the laser regimes of either 1530 or 1550 nm wavelength are procured based on the absorption profile of the erbium-doped fiber. The absorption of the erbium-doped fiber is designed to emit at both wavelengths by controlling the net gain of the laser cavity. Subsequently, simultaneous erbium-doped fiber laser emission is attained at 1533.5 and 1555.1 nm with the pulse duration of 910 and 850 fs, respectively. Therefore, this work maximizes the output portfolios of a mode-locking fiber laser for dual-wavelength ultrashort pulses emission.

A highly efficient laser system output at the H-β Fraunhofer line of 486.1 nm has been demonstrated. A high pulse energy single-frequency hybrid 1064 nm master oscillator power amplifier was frequency-tripled to achieve 355 nm laser pulses, which acted as the pump source of the beta barium borate nanosecond pulse optical parametric oscillator. With pump energy of 190 mJ, the laser system generated a maximum output of 62 mJ blue laser pulses at 486.1 nm, corresponding to conversion efficiency of 32.6%. The laser spectrum width was measured to be around 0.1 nm, being in conformity with the spectrum width of the solar Fraunhofer line.

To reveal the physical mechanism of laser ablation and establish the prediction model for figuring the surface of fused silica, a multi-physical transient numerical model coupled with heat transfer and fluid flow was developed under pulsed CO2 laser irradiation. The model employed various heat transfer and hydrodynamic boundary and thermomechanical properties for assisting the understanding of the contributions of Marangoni convention, gravitational force, vaporization recoil pressure, and capillary force in the process of laser ablation and better prediction of laser processing. Simulation results indicated that the vaporization recoil pressure dominated the formation of the final ablation profile. The ablation depth increased exponentially with pulse duration and linearly with laser energy after homogenous evaporation. The model was validated by experimental data of pulse CO2 laser ablation of fused silica. To further investigate laser beam figuring, local ablation by varying the overlap rate and laser energy was conducted, achieving down to 4 nm homogenous ablation depth.

Dissimilar metal joining of magnesium to aluminum was investigated using the latest generation nanosecond pulsed fiber laser. The tensile shear test shows that the average tensile shear strength of a joint was 86 MPa, which was 75% of the aluminum substrate. The weld interface exhibited a mixture phase (Mg solid solution and Mg17Al12) that improves the strength and toughness of the joint. A thin Mg–Al intermetallic compound layer was formed on both sides of the weld seam toward the Al side. Fracture occurred toward the Al substrate side rather than the Mg–Al interface, indicating a high joining strength at the weld interface.

The stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) threshold affected by repetition rate and pulse duration in a single-frequency nanosecond pulsed fiber amplifier is studied. The experimental results demonstrate that the SBS threshold can be improved either by reducing the repetition rate or by narrowing the pulse duration; however, the average power may be limited in some cases. Otherwise, two evaluation methods for the SBS threshold in the fiber amplifier are compared and discussed, aiming to obtain a more accurate description for the SBS threshold in our single-frequency amplifier system.

Based on the modified ramp and fire technique, a novel injection seeding approach with real-time resonance tracking is successfully demonstrated in a single-frequency Nd:YAG pulsed laser. Appling a high-frequency sinusoidal modulation voltage to one piezo actuator and an adjustable DC voltage to another piezo actuator for active feedback, single-mode laser output with high-frequency stability is obtained, and the effect of the piezo hysteresis on the frequency stability can be eliminated for a laser diode pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at a repetition rate of 400 Hz.

We report on the amplification of high-average-power and high-efficiency picosecond pulses in a self-made very-large-mode-area Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The PCF with a core diameter of 105 μm and a core numerical aperture of 0.05 is prepared by the sol-gel method combined with the powder sintering technique. The fiber amplification system produces the highest average power of 255 W at a 10 MHz repetition rate with a 21 ps pulse duration corresponding to a peak power of 1.2 MW. This result exemplifies the high-average-power and high-peak-power potential of this specifically designed fiber.

We report a cladding-pumped actively Q-switched ring Tm-doped fiber laser (TDFL). This laser is Q-switched by a free space acousto-optic modulator. A pulse energy up to 150 μJ with a pulse width of 207 ns at a repetition rate of 100 Hz is achieved for a cavity optical length of 6.68 m. The pulse amplitude’s stability at this repetition rate is better than 95%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first free space structure Q-switched ring TDFL report.

Intensive electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) can be generated from interaction of the ultra-intense lasers and solid targets in inertial confinement fusion (ICF), which will detrimentally affect the data acquisition from some electric components. A diagnostic system for EMP measurement inside and outside the ShenGuang-III facility is designed and fabricated in this study. The experimental results indicate that the peak magnitude of EMP reaches up to 3210.7 kV/m and 6.02 T. The received signals depend most on the antenna and target types. The half-hohlraum generates a more intensive EMP radiation than that from the other targets, and the large planar and medium discone capture much stronger signals than the other antennas. In addition, the mechanisms of EMP generation from different targets are discussed. The resulting conclusion are expected to provide the experimental basis for further EMP shielding design.