In order to support thulium fiber laser development efforts, the Laser Plasma Laboratory (LPL) utilized a DURIP from ARO to purchase several pieces of equipment critical for processing large diameter fibers for use in laser systems. This includes a cleaver capable of placing an angled facet on fibers from 125 μm to 1.5 mm in diameter (Vytran LDC-200); a glass-processing platform with the ability to splice (including polarization alignment), taper and fuse large diameter fibers (Vytran GPX-3400); and a fiber recoater for splice protection (Vytran PTR-200).
The facility provides us with the ability to fabricate high-power fiber systems and components in house. This allows us to produce integrated systems for applications requiring compactness and a minimum of free-space optical components, and provides us flexibility in fabricating and optimizing fiber laser systems.