High-energy pulsed fibre laser based on a two-fibre assembly

We demonstrate for the first time a relatively simple fibre laser system with a passively Q-switched master oscillator and a polarised output pulse energy of up to 110 μJ at 1080 nm. The system is pumped by a single 12-W multimode cw source at 980 nm. Depending on the pump power, the pulse duration varies from 280 ns to 1.8 μs and the pulse repetition rate, from 45 to 140 kHz. The maximum average output power is 5 W. The system has been tested for its performance in metal and glass processing.