Compact millijoule diode-seeded two-stage fiber master oscillator power amplifier using a multipass and forward pumping scheme

The multipass scheme for a diode-seeded fiber master oscillator power amplifier with a nanojoule-to-millijoule output energy level at a repetition rate of <100 kHz is numerically analyzed for comparison to an experimental benchmark. For a 6/125 single-mode preamplifier with a small input energy (<1 nJ), there is a significant improvement in the output energy from 0.7% to 80% and 95% of the maximum extractable energy using the double-pass and four-pass schemes, respectively. For a 30/250 large-mode-area power amplifier using the double-pass and forward pumping scheme, the required input energy is decreased from 100 μJ to 18 μJ for millijoule energy extraction with accompanying Stokes waves of less than 10% of the total energy. The system based on the full master oscillator power amplifier configuration with an output energy exceeding millijoule level can be optimally simplified to two stages for commercialization. ? 2018 Optical Society of America.