Abstract:
Background Multicore Fiber (MCF) laser technology has the potential to achieve power exceeding 100 kW in the continuous-wave domain, nearly 100 kW of average power in the nanosecond domain, pulse energy of hundreds of millijoules in the femtosecond domain, and tens of kilowatts of average power and pulse energy of hundreds of millijoules in the picosecond domain. It is a highly promising frontier research direction in the field of high-power lasers and is one of the important future development directions of high-power fiber lasers.
Purpose This article systematically reviews the latest research progress and development prospects of high-power MCF laser technology, focusing on the breakthroughs in high-power MCF laser technology covering spatial structure and all-fiber structure in recent years.
Methods It analyzes the current limitations and development routes of MCF lasers.
Results Finally, this article summarizes and looks forward to the future development direction of MCF laser technology.
Conclusions Despite the challenges that lie ahead, this technological pathway clearly indicates that MCF technology currently represents the most promising approach for achieving order-of-magnitude performance improvements in fiber laser systems. As such, MCF is poised to become the core laser source for meeting future extreme power demands, ushering in a new era of high-energy laser applications.