High-energy in-fiber pulse amplification for coherent lidar applications

An Er:Yb codoped fiber amplifier chain for the generation of pulses for coherent lidar applications at a wavelength near 1.5 µm is reported. The final 1.8-m-long power amplification stage had a 50‐µm core diameter and yielded a 23-dB energy gain, resulting in 0.29-mJ, 100-ns pulses at a repetition rate of 4 kHz with no Brillouin scattering and an M2 of 2.1.