Eye-safe, single-frequency pulsed all-fiber laser for Doppler wind lidar

Abstract

A single-frequency pulsed erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser with master-oscillator power-amplifier configuration at 1533 nm is developed. A short-cavity, erbium-doped phosphate glass fiber laser is utilized as a seeder laser with a linewidth of 5 kHz and power of 40 mW. The seeder laser is modulated to be a pulse laser with a repetition rate of 10 kHz and pulse duration of 500 ns. The amplifier consists of two pre-amplifiers and one main amplifier. The detailed characteristics of the spectrum and linewidth of the amplifiers are presented. A pulse energy of 116 μJ and a linewidth of 1.1 MHz are obtained. This laser can be a candidate transmitter for an all-fiber Doppler wind lidar in the boundary layer. ©2011 Chinese Optics Letters.