Pulse lasers built entirely on optical fibers are increasingly readily being used by industry. Optical scientists from the Warsaw Laser Centre of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw have generated ultrashort laser pulses in an optical fiber using a method previously considered as physically impossible to achieve. Their solution is not only useful, but also surprisingly simple!
An innovative fiber laser has come into being at the Laser Centre of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) and the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw. Using an ingenious and easy-to-implement solution, the Warsaw optical scientists have “forced” one of the types of optical fiber lasers to generate ultrashort high energy pulses. The method they used is particularly interesting because of the fact that it was considered by experts as impossible to achieve. The new laser is devoid of any mechanically sensitive external parts, what seems to be especially interesting for future applications. The patent-pending invention should soon greatly shorten the time of processing materials in industrial laser machines.
“Fiber lasers can be built so that all the processes important for the generation and shaping of the ultrashort pulses take place in the fiber itself. Such devices, without any external mechanically sensitive components, operate in a very stable manner and are ideal for working in difficult conditions,” says Dr. Yuriy Stepanenko (IPC PAS).