Overview on iXblue Photonics and focus on the Fibered ns ModBox-FrontEnd Solution

Dr Herve GouraudSales Director for iXblue Photonicsherve.gouraud@ixblue.com

9TH EPS-QEOD EurophotonVirtual Conference, 30 August – 4 September 2020

•iXblue in few words

High-Technology Independent Company

750+employees

140+ M€turnover

80%export

Founded in 2000

iXblue in France

La CiotatSonarsSea OperationsShipyard

BrestUnderwater Acoustic PositioningAcoustic Labcom

LannionSpecialty Fibers Navigation

Bonneuil-sur-MarneMotion Systems

BesançonIntegrated optics

Saint-Germain-en-LayeNavigation Headquarters

St EtienneHardened optical fibers Labcom Bordeaux

Cold Atoms Labcom

8 industrial sites

100% of R&D and production as well as 90% of suppliers located in France

Joint Research Laboratories

Products & Services

Specialty fibers and components

Underwater acoustic communication and positioning

Sonars

Modulation solutions

Motion simulators and Pan & Tilt

Shipyard

Inertial sensors

Navigation systems

Sea operations

Communication

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Enabling high speed communication

Sensors

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For highly reliable and accurate measurements

Lasers

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Solution of choice for premium performance

High Energy and Power laser

High efficiency LMA &Polarizing fibers

x

Petawatt class lasers

High efficiency LMAx

Copyright «LULI2000 © Barande Jérémy / Ecole Polytechnique»

High Energy and High Power Lasers Overview

● Pulses from 1 - 10 ns, 10 to 100 J

● Material hardening by laser-induced shock wave (peening)

● Plasma and shock physics

High Energy and High Power LasersHigh Energy Industrial Lasers

Fibered laserOptical fiber

amplifierAmplitude

EOM

t

Diode or flash pumped amplifier t

Ti:Sa (800 nm), Ytt glass 1030 nm)Neodym glass (1053 nm), YAG (1064 nm)

Output amplified

seeder signal

● Seeder source - key LiNbO3 modulator based fiber System specification:

● ns NIR high optical pulse contrast stabilized over time

● Temporal optical pulse shaping to compensate the amplifiers’ distortions

● Optical fiber amplification to reach pulse energy in the range of nJ

Optical ns Pulse Shaper fibered laser source: Fibered ns Front-End

Seeder source

● Seeder source - key LiNbO3 modulators specification:

● NIR Modulators with very high optical Extinction Ratio

● Low Insertion Loss & high Optical Power Handling Capability

● Wide Electro-Optical bandwidth

● Pulses shorter than a picosecond (ELI-Beamlines), up to 10 PW

● Warm dense matter

● Plasma physics

● Acceleration of ions and electrons

High Energy and High Power LasersScientific High Intensity & Petawatt class lasers based on OPCPA

NIR DFB laser Optical fiber amplifier

Amplitude EOM

Optical ns Pulse Shaper fibered laser source: Fibered ns Front-End

t

ns-OPCPA amplifier

● OPCPA pump source - key LiNbO3 modulators specification:

● NIR Modulators with very high optical Extinction Ratio

● Low Insertion Loss & high Optical Power Handling Capability

● Wide Electro-Optical bandwidth

Synchro

Output amplified

seeder signal

OPCPA pump Seeder

● OPCPA pump source - key LiNbO3 modulator based fiber system specification:

● ns NIR high optical pulse contrast stabilized over time

● Temporal optical pulse shaping to compensate the amplifiers’ distortion and optimize the overlap between the pump and seeder signals

● Optical fiber amplification to reach pulse energy in the range of nJ

● Very low jitter to warrant the best overlap between the pump and seed signals

Diode or flash pumped amplifier

Ti:Sa (800 nm), Ytt glass 1030 nm)Neodym glass (1053 nm), YAG (1064 nm)

Petawatt class lasers

High efficiency LMAx

High Energy and High Power LasersScientific High Energy Density (HED) Lasers● Few nanosecond optical pulse lasers, En > kJ (GSI, RAL, AWE, LULI, LLNL, SIOM), En > 1 MJ (LMJ, NIF)

● Inertial confinement fusion and plasma science

●Research in nuclear and particle physics,…

NIR Low phase noise DFB laser

Optical fiber amplifier

Amplitude EOM

Phase EOM

Optical ns Pulse Shaper fibered laser source: Fibered ns Front-EndSBS: Stimulated

Brillouin Suppression

Pulse optical fiber amplifier

t F

Flash pumped amplifier

Higher Peak Power Amplifier

Phase EOM

SSD: Smoothing by Spectral Dispersion

F

Seeder sourceTi:Sa (800 nm), Ytt glass 1030 nm)

Neodym glass (1053 nm), YAG (1064 nm)

● Seeder source - key LiNbO3 modulator based ModBox specification:

● ns NIR high optical pulse contrast stabilized over time, high PER

● Temporal optical pulse shaping to compensate the amplifiers’ distortion

● Optical fiber amplification to reach pulse energy in the range of nJ

● Very low jitter

● SSB & SSD modulations based on spectrum broadening

● High Polarization Extinction Ration: eed of Polarizing fiber

High Energy and Power laser

High efficiency LMA &Polarizing fibers

x

● Seeder source - key LiNbO3 modulators specification and fibers:

● High optical Extinction Ratio

● Low Insertion Loss & high Optical Power Handling Capability

● Wide Electro-Optical bandwidth

● High Polarization Extinction Ratio to reduce the FM to AM conversion

● Low Vπ phase modulator

● High Polarization Extinction Ratio: need of Polarizing fiber

Copyright «LULI2000 © Barande Jérémy / Ecole Polytechnique»

ModBox ns Front-End

Fibered ns Front-End ModBoxOptical ns Pulse Shaper fibered laser source - Fibered ns Front-End: Schematic & GUI

● CW DFB laser source

● Temporal pulse shaping block based on a modulatorset to ensure a very high optical pulse extinction ratio

● an automatic Modulator Bias Control circuitry (MBC)

● RF-Generator with an arbitrary waveform capability

Fibered ns Front-End ModBoxOptical ns Pulse Shaper fibered laser source - Fibered ns Front-End: Schematic & GUI

On-Line Video

The below video shows the updated interface features and capabilities of the ns Front-End ModBox:

Optical ns Pulse Shaper fibered laser source main performancesFibered ns Front-End ModBox

Arbitrary Optical Waveform• 125 ps to 100 ns Pulse width• Single Shot to 100 kHz• 12 bits vertical resolution• 800 samples

Time jitter:• Jitter 7 ps RMS• Low-Jitter option < 7 ps-pp

Extinction Ratio:• Single MZ: > 35 dB• Double MZ: > 60 dB• High stability contrast < 1 %rms

Output optical power:• 1030 nm, 1053 nm, 1064 nm• < 1 % RMS.

Energy levels:• 1 nJ / 1 ns – ER 35 dB• 300 pJ / 1 ns – ER 60 dB

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Optical ns Pulse Shaper fibered laser source: the latest improvementsFibered ns Front-End ModBox

For any questions and support, please contact:contact.photonics@ixblue.comherve.gouraud@ixblue.com

www.photonics.ixblue.com/

Technical papers

Friday 4 September / 2:15 pm150-W continuous wave laser emission at 2.09𝜇𝜇m from a Tm3+, Ho3+-codoped single-oscillator monolithic fiber laser, iXblue Photonics in collaration with ISL - FRANCE

Wednesday 2 September / 7:30pmPost-treatment of DBR fibre lasers for enhanced beat-frequency in dual-polarization operation, iXblue Photonics in collaboration with Univerisité de Rennes - FRANCE