A high efficiency architecture for cascaded Raman fiber lasers.

We demonstrate a new high efficiency architecture for cascaded Raman fiber lasers based on a single pass cascaded amplifier configuration. Conversion is seeded at all intermediate Stokes wavelengths using a multi-wavelength seed source. A lower power Raman laser based on the conventional cascaded Raman resonator architecture provides a convenient seed source providing all the necessary wavelengths simultaneously. In this work we demonstrate a 1480nm laser pumped by an 1117nm Yb-doped fiber laser with maximum output power of 204W and conversion efficiency of 65% (quantum-limited efficiency is similar to 75%). We believe both the output power and conversion efficiency (relative to quantum-limited efficiency) are the highest reported for cascaded Raman fiber lasers. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America