Functional Fibers and Functional Fiber-Based Components for High-Power Lasers

The success of high-power fiber lasers is fueled by maturation of active and passive fibers, combined with the availability of high-power fiber-based components. In this contribution, we first overview the enormous potential of rare-earth doped fibers in spectral coverage and recent developments of key fiber-based components employed in high-power laser systems. Subsequently, the emerging functional active and passive fibers in recent years, which exhibit tremendous advantages in balancing or mitigating parasitic nonlinearities hindering high-power transmission, are outlined from the perspectives of geometric and material engineering. Finally, novel functional applications of conventional fiber-based components for nonlinear suppression or spatial mode selection, and correspondingly, the high-power progress of function fiber-based components in power handling are introduced, which suggest more flexible controllability on high-power laser operations.

Automated summary

This contribution provides an overview of the potential of rare-earth doped fibers and fiber-based components in high-power fiber lasers. The emerging functional fibers are discussed from the perspectives of geometry and material engineering. Furthermore, the novel applications of conventional fiber-based components and the progress of function fiber-based components in power handling are introduced, suggesting more flexible controllability in high-power laser operations.