Design of large-mode-area amplifier fibers resistant to bend-induced distortion

摘要

As fiber amplifiers and lasers achieve higher power, gain fiber designs are pushing toward extremely large-mode area. In this regime, bend-induced distortion of fiber modes becomes large and can severely impact amplifier performance. Previous results describing bend-induced reduction of effective area are reviewed and extended with a numerical analysis of how bend distortion impacts interaction with the gain. Distortion-resistant designs such as the parabolic fiber are shown to substantially improve gain-interaction indicators as well as all other performance metrics simulated, and are predicted to dramatically outperform step-index fibers. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.