219.6 W large-mode-area Er:Yb codoped fiber amplifier operating at 1600 nm pumped by 1018 nm fiber lasers

We demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge, the first high-power large-mode-area Er:Yb codoped fiber amplifier pumped by 1018 nm fiber lasers. The output power reaches 219.6 W, which is the highest power operating at 1600 nm with near-diffraction-limitation beam quality. The 1018 nm pumping scheme contributes to the mitigation of Er,Yb fiber bottlenecking, improvement in signal gain, and reduction of heat generation. Also, we inject co-propagating C-band amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) into the master amplifier to avoid unwanted backward-propagating ASE.