Characterization and stabilising dynamic phase fluctuations in large mode area fibres

Fibre amplifiers exhibit rapid time dependent phase fluctuations due to the environment and to thermal and other effects associated with the pumping and lasing processes. We characterise these effects in a large mode area fibre amplifier having an output power of 260W limited only by pump power. The amplifier retains its coherence even at the highest available output power with negligible linewidth broadening. Phase fluctuations are characterised by a low-amplitude power-independent jitter superimposed on a power-dependent drift due to heating. We also measure the phase fluctuations in a COTS fibre preamplifier and find they are predominantly large amplitude periodic oscillations at 110Hz, probably induced by pump power fluctuations. The two amplifiers were combined in series to give a high gain amplifier chain and actively phase stabilised to high precision (~l/37 rms) using a piezo-ceramic fibre stretcher incorporated into a PC-based feedback loop.