Designs for efficient high-energy high brightness Q-switched cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber lasers

Summary form only given. Double-clad rare-earth-doped fiber lasers pumped by high brightness laser diodes are very efficient and compact sources of CW and pulsed radiation. In contrast to conventional bulk crystal lasers, the low pump absorption rate and waveguiding nature of double-clad fiber lasers result in relatively long cavity lengths, small effective core areas, and high round trip gain. Consequently, amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), various nonlinear effects, and optical damage are important factors for Q-switched fiber lasers. We theoretically and experimentally study different fiber designs for Q-switched cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber lasers.