Impact of thermo-optical effects in coherently-combined multicore fiber amplifiers

TL;DR

This paper investigates the power scaling limits of multicore fiber amplifiers in coherently combined systems, highlighting thermal effects and core design influences on performance, and predicts high-power femtosecond pulse generation capabilities.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of thermal and mode effects in multicore fiber amplifiers, proposing feasible high-power and high-energy pulse outputs under extreme conditions.

Findings

Average output powers >10 kW predicted

Femtosecond pulses >400 mJ energy feasible

Thermal effects significantly impact mode and efficiency

Abstract

In this work we analyze the power scaling potential of amplifying multicore fibers (MCFs) used in coherently-combined systems. In particular, in this study we exemplarily consider rod-type MCFs with 2x2 up to 10x10 Ytterbium doped cores arranged in a squared pattern. We will show that, even though increasing the number of active cores will lead to higher output powers, particular attention has to be paid to arising thermal effects, which potentially degrade the performance of these systems. Additionally, we analyze the influence of the core dimensions on the extractable and combinable output power and pulse energy. This includes a detailed study on the thermal effects that influence the propagating transverse modes and, in turn, the amplification efficiency, the combining efficiency, the onset of nonlinear effect, as well as differences in the optical path lengths between the cores. Considering all these effects under rather extreme conditions, the study predicts that average output powers higher than 10 kW from a single 1 m long Ytterbium-doped MCF are feasible and femtosecond pulses with energies higher than 400 mJ can be extracted and efficiently recombined in a filled-aperture scheme.