1. Project name: 2μm Ultra-wideband Ultrashort Pulse Fiber Laser with High Time Domain Quality for Intermediate Infrared Amplifier

2. Project content:  Nowadays the utrafast fiber laser that generates picosecond/femtosecond pulses is one of the most active fields in optical research. In the past 10 years, the ultrafast fiber laser has developed rapidly and has been widely used in the fields of optical communication, optical sensing, laser medicine, industrial processing, aerospace, materials science, spectroscopy, and nonlinear optics. The ultrafast fiber laser has been realized in the 1μm, 1.55μm and 2μm wavebands. In 2006, Singaporean scientist D. Y. Tang et al. first realized the direct generation of ultrashort pulse of 47fs in erbium-doped fiber laser with a spectral width of 61.3nm. Jiangsu Normal University and Cornell University jointly carried out research on the dynamic characteristics of ultrashort pulse in the fiber laser: experimental reports and theories prove that vector solitons could be generated in the 2μm band. Compared with ytterbium-doped fiber and erbium-doped fiber, although thulium-doped fiber works in the 2μm band, it can provide a gain bandwidth of more than 300nm, which is very conducive to the output of ultra-wideband and ultrashort mode locking pulse laser. However, the current research on ultrashort pulse fiber laser in the 2μm band is still weak, and the gain bandwidth has not been fully utilized to generate ultrashort pulse less than 100fs.

The research and work involved in this program include: Testing the performance parameters of the prepared photonic crystal fiber (PCF), especially the dispersion curve, realizing the ultrashort pulse output of less than 100fs in the thulium-doped fiber laser, and using the ultrashort pulse fiber light source in the 2μm band to couple to the PCF and generate super-continuum spectrum;

3. Cooperative organizations:  Jiangsu Normal University Key Laboratory of Advanced Laser Materials and Devices of Jiangsu Province. The research on laser materials and devices is well-known at home and abroad. The laboratory has complete equipment and strong research foundation in the representation of laser devices and measurement of ultrashort pulse, and perfects itself in the key technology of controlling the pulse width of ultrashort pulse output by fiber lasers.

As a top institute in Poland, Institute of Electronic Materials Technology (ITME) is dedicated to the development of new materials and device research based on new materials, mainly used in the fields of electronics, microsystems, optoelectronics, micro mechanics, metrology, etc. The institute is committed to scientific cooperation with universities and other institutes. The manufacturing process that has been developed can meet the growth needs of single crystal semiconductor materials, oxide crystals, ultra-pure metals, and gain glasses. The institute is also good at producing ultra-pure materials, gain fibers, nano ceramics and composite materials, etc. by nanotechnology in photonic crystals and sub-element materials. The institute has inherited and continued the research ideas of the single crystal growth method invented by the famous chemist Czochralski. The institute has a good research foundation in the growth of semiconductor and oxide single crystals. Over the years, the institute has made a series of advanced research achievements in the research and development of glass materials. The doctors of Mariusz Klimczak have long been engaged in research on nonlinear optics, including parametric conversion in multi-component oxide photonic crystal fibers, new light sources based on photonic crystal fibers with a nano-structure fibre core, and market application of semiconductor lasers whose pressure can be adjusted, etc. The doctors have made a series of important research achievements in laser physics and materials research, and published more than 40 papers in international key journals.

4. Key points of cooperation:  Jiangsu Normal University is mainly responsible for realizing ultrashort pulse fiber laser less than 100fs in the 2μm band, systematically researching on the performance of the PCF with positive dispersion in the 2μm band combined with the ultrashort pulse light source, realizing the super-continuum spectrum in the middle-infrared band, and establishing a prototype of a super-continuum spectrum light source based on this.

The Institute of Electronic Materials Technology is mainly responsible for the design and drawing of photonic crystal fibers (PCF) with controllable dispersion curves, with the purpose of obtaining practical photonic crystal fibers and launching laboratory products to the market.

5. Signing date: April 20, 2017