Robust single-frequency 589 nm fiber laser based on phase modulation and passive demodulation

A robust 20-W continuous-wave single frequency 589 nm laser is developed to aim for sodium guide star in astronomy. The source is based on applying π-depth binary phase modulation to a single frequency seed laser along with 3 steps of strain in the gain fiber to suppress the stimulated Brillouin scattering in the high power 1178 nm amplifier and realizing the recovery of single frequency after frequency doubling in a periodically poled LiTaO3 crystal. The efficiency of frequency doubling reaches up to 41.6%. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest power reported for continuous-wave 589 nm laser generation by single-pass frequency doubling. The approach significantly simplifies the sodium guide star laser design and improves robustness.