Continuous-wave 25-W Nd3+:glass fiber bundle laser

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Abstract
For the first time, we have achieved continuous, moderate power operation of a Nd3+:glass fiber bundle laser. The fiber bundle laser consisted of 1450 fibers, each 100 μm in diameter, with 75‐μm core phosphate laser glass doped at 8 wt. % Nd2O3. In separate experiments, the laser fiber bundle was energized by either a pulsed xenon flashlamp or a continuous‐wave argon arc lamp. A maximum energy of 0.8 J at 4.9‐kW peak power was obtained in the pulsed flashlamp experiments whereas a maximum cw power of 25 W was obtained with the arc lamp. Neither the pulsed nor the cw systems were optimized. The beam profile was imaged with low spatial resolution and was found to be lobed. In both experiments, the output was characterized and fitted to a first‐order kinetic model. The loss coefficient of 0.00 266 cm−1 was inferred from the model and was found to be 30% higher than measured in the bulk laser material.