Extended single-mode photonic crystal fiber lasers

We report on an ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber with a core diameter of 60 mu m and mode-field-area of similar to 2000 mu m(2) of the emitted fundamental mode. Together with the short absorption length of 0.5 m this fiber possesses a record low nonlinearity which makes this fiber predestinated for the amplification of short laser pulses to very high peak powers. In a first continuous-wave experiment a power of 320 W has been extracted corresponding to 550 W per meter. To our knowledge this represents the highest power per unit length ever reported for fiber lasers. Furthermore, the robust single-transverse-mode propagation in a passive 100 mu m core fiber with a similar design reveals the potential of extended large-mode-area photonic crystal fibers. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.