Transverse mode instability(TMI)has become the major limitation for power scaling of fiber lasers with nearly diffraction-limited beam quality.Compared with a co-pumped fiber laser,a counter-pumped fiber laser reveals TMI threshold enhancement through a semi-analytical model calculation.We demonstrated a 2 kW high-power counter-pumped all-fiberized laser without observation of TMI.Compared with the co-pumped scheme,the TMI threshold is enhanced at least 50%in counter-pumped scheme,moreover,stimulated Raman scattering and four-wave mixing are suppressed simultaneously.
Transverse mode instability (TMI) has become the major limitation for power scaling of fiber lasers with nearly diffraction-limited beam quality. Compared with a co-pumped fiber laser, a counter-pumped fiber laser reveals TMI threshold enhancement through a semi-analytical model calculation. We demonstrated a 2 kW high-power counter-pumped all-fiberized laser without observation of TMI. Compared with the co-pumped scheme, the TMI threshold is enhanced at least 50% in counter-pumped scheme, moreover, stimulated Raman scattering and four-wave mixing are suppressed simultaneously. (C) 2017 Chinese Laser Press