Diffraction-Limited Fundamental Mode Operation of Core-Pumped Very-Large-Mode-Area Er Fiber Amplifiers

Diffraction-limited fundamental mode amplification is demonstrated in Er-doped fibers with mode areas ranging from 900 to 1800 mum2. The amplifiers are core-pumped with Raman fiber lasers with both signal and pump selectively launched into the fundamental mode. This scheme results in differential gain for the fundamental mode and stabilizes it against mode mixing caused by perturbations in the core. Gains that are greater than 30 dB are demonstrated from a single stage without significant amplified spontaneous emission. The low nonlinearity of the large mode areas enables amplification to high peak powers without resorting to unconventional microstructured or higher order mode fibers.