MOGlabs MFE User manual

Fibre Amplifier
MFE
Revision 1.02

Limitation of Liability
MOG Laboratories Pty Ltd (MOGLabs) does not assume any liabil-
ity arising out of the use of the information contained within this
manual. This document may contain or reference information and
products protected by copyrights or patents and does not convey
any license under the patent rights of MOGLabs, nor the rights of
others. MOGLabs will not be liable for any defect in hardware or
software or loss or inadequacy of data of any kind, or for any direct,
indirect, incidental, or consequential damages in connections with
or arising out of the performance or use of any of its products. The
foregoing limitation of liability shall be equally applicable to any
service provided by MOGLabs.
Copyright
Copyright ©MOG Laboratories Pty Ltd (MOGLabs) 2016 – 2022.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of MOGLabs.
Contact
For further information, please contact:
MOG Laboratories P/L
49 University St
Carlton VIC 3053
AUSTRALIA
[phone]
[email protected]
MOGLabs USA LLC
419 14th St
Huntingdon PA 16652
USA
[phone]
www.moglabs.com

Preface
The MOGLabs MFE Fibre Amplifier is a modular system based on
Er and Yb doped active fibres. Internal modules can include seed
and up to three stages of amplification, from 500 mW to 20 W. Wave-
lengths extend from 1000 to 1100 nm and 1530 to 1610 nm. It can
be operated via front-panel controls, or using a computer communi-
cations interface (TCP/IP or USB) with simple text-based commands.
We hope that the MFE meets and exceeds your expectations. Please
let us know if you have any suggestions for improvement in the MFE
or in this document, and check our website from time to time for
updated information.
MOGLabs www.moglabs.com
i

ii

Safety Precautions
Safe and effective use of this product is very important. Please read
the following safety information before attempting to operate your
laser. Also please note several specific and unusual cautionary notes
before using the MOGLabs MFE, in addition to the safety precautions
that are standard for any electronic equipment or for laser-related
instrumentation.
CAUTION – USE OF CONTROLS OR ADJUSTMENTS OR
PERFORMANCE OF PROCEDURES OTHER THAN THOSE
SPECIFIED HEREIN MAY RESULT IN HAZARDOUS
RADIATION EXPOSURE
Laser output can be dangerous. Please ensure that you implement
the appropriate hazard minimisations for your environment, such as
laser safety goggles, beam blocks, and door interlocks. MOGLabs
takes no responsibility for safe configuration and use of your laser.
Please:
•Avoid direct exposure to the beam.
•Avoid looking directly into the beam.
•Note the safety labels and heed their warnings.
•When the laser is switched on, there will be a short delay of
two seconds before the emission of laser radiation, mandated
by European laser safety regulations (IEC 60825-1).
•The STANDBY/RUN keyswitch must be turned to RUN before
the laser can be switched on. The laser will not operate if
the keyswitch is in the STANDBY position. The key cannot be
iii

iv
removed from the controller when it is in the clockwise (RUN)
position.
•To completely shut off power to the unit, turn the keyswitch
anti-clockwise (STANDBY position), switch the mains power
switch at rear of unit to OFF, and unplug the unit.
•When the STANDBY/RUN keyswitch is on STANDBY, there can-
not be power to the laser diode, but power can still be supplied
to the laser head for temperature control.
CAUTION The supply must include a good ground connection.
CAUTION To ensure correct cooling airflow, the unit should not be oper-
ated with cover removed.
WARNING The internal circuit boards and many of the mounted compo-
nents are at high voltage, with exposed conductors, in particu-
lar mains supply to various sections of the power supply. The
unit should not be operated with cover removed.
NOTE The MOGLabs MFE is designed for use in scientific research
laboratories. It should not be used for consumer or medical
applications.
Label identification
The International Electrotechnical Commission laser safety standard
IEC 60825-1:2007 mandates warning labels that provide information
on the wavelength and power of emitted laser radiation, and which
show the aperture where laser radiation is emitted. Figures 1 and
2 show examples of these labels and their location on the device.

v
Emission connector symbol
US FDA compliance
Warning and advisory label
Class 4
Model number: MFE
Serial number: A82108001
Manufactured: AUGUST 2021
Complies with21CFR1040.10,and1040.11 except for
deviations pursuant to Laser NoticeNo.50,dated 24June2007
MOG LaboratoriesPty Ltd, 49 University St
Carlton VIC 3053, AUSTRALIA
IEC 60825-1:2007
AS/NZS 2211.5:2006
INVISIBLE LASER RADIATION
AVOID EYE OR SKIN EXPOSURE TO
DIRECT OR SCATTERED RADIATION
CLASS 4 LASER PRODUCT
Wavelength Max Power
1050nm 5W
LASER RADIATION
Figure 1: US FDA compliance and laser warning advisory labels.

vi
IEC 60825-1:2007
AS/NZS 2211.5:2006
INVISIBLE LASER RADIATION
AVOID EYE OR SKIN EXPOSURETO
DIRECT OR SCATTERED RADIATION
CLASS 4 LASER PRODUCT
Wavelength Max Power
1050nm 5W
Laser warning advisor
Model number: MFE
Serial number: A82108001
Manufactured: AUGUST 2021
Complieswith 21 CFR1040.10,and 1040.11 except for
deviations pursuant to Laser NoticeNo.50,dated 24 June2007
MOG LaboratoriesPty Ltd, 49 University St
Carlton VIC 3053, AUSTRALIA
FDA compliance
and serial number
Model number:
MFE
Serial number:
A82108001
Manufactured:
AUGUST 2021
Complieswith21 CFR1040.10,and1040.11 except for
deviationspursuant to Laser NoticeNo.50, dated24 June2007
MOGLaboratories Pty Ltd, 49 University St
Carlton VIC 3053, AUSTRALIA
IEC60825-1:2007
AS/NZS2211.5:2006
INVISIBLELASER RADIATION
AVOIDEYE OR SKIN EXPOSURETO
DIRECTOR SCATTERED RADIATION
CLASS4 LASER PRODUCT
Wavelength MaxPower
1050nm 5W
Emission indicator
Laser emission
Fibre FC connector
Keyswitch
Emergency off
switch
Figure 2: Schematic showing location of warning labels compliant with In-
ternational Electrotechnical Commission standard IEC 60825-1:2007, and
US FDA compliance label. Warning advisory label and compliance label
are on the rear panel. Emission is from the front panel FC fibre connector
labelled with triangular laser radiation symbol. Emission indicator is la-
belled AMP. Safety keyswitch and emergency off switch are also indicated.

Protection Features
The MOGLabs MFE includes a number of features to protect you and
your laser.
Softstart A time delay (3 s) followed by linearly ramping the pump diode
current (1 s/A max).
Circuit shutdown Many areas of the circuitry are powered down when not in
use. The pump diode current supplies may be without power
when the unit is in standby mode, if an interlock is open, or a
fault condition is detected.
Current limit Sets a maximum possible pump diode injection current (one
per stage).
Cable continuity If the pump diode fail and become open- or short-circuit, the
system will switch to standby and disable all laser supplies.
Short circuit If the pump diode fail and become short-circuit, it will be dis-
abled accordingly.
Temperature If the detected temperature is outside normal operating tem-
perature, the amplifier is disabled.
Internal supplies If the internal DC power supply (+24 V) is 4 V or more below
its nominal value, the respective components are disabled.
Emergency stop button In the case of emergency the entire system can be turned off
by pushing the emergency stop button on the front panel. This
will break the connection with mains power.
vii

viii
Emission indicator The MOGLabs controller will illuminate the current warning
indicator LED immediately when the amplifier is switched on.
There will then be a delay of at least 3 seconds before actual
laser emission.
Mains filter Protection against mains voltage supply transient peaks.
Key-operated The amplifier cannot be powered unless the key-operated STANDBY
switch is in the RUN position, to protect against unauthorised
or accidental use. The key cannot be removed from the con-
troller when it is in the clockwise (RUN) position.
Interlocks The main unit has an external interlock to allow the amplifier
to be disabled via a remote switch.
Seed input A photodetector in the amplifier is used to detect the presence
of seed laser input. The amplifier will not start unless there
is sufficient input seed power.

Contents
Preface i
Safety Precautions iii
Protection Features vii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Front panel controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Rear panel connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Menus 5
2.1 Mainmenu......................... 5
2.2 Reportmenu........................ 6
2.3 Ovenmenu......................... 6
2.4 Options........................... 6
2.5 Ethernet settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3 Operation 9
3.1 Gettingstarted ...................... 9
3.2 Interlocks ......................... 10
4 MOGMFE application 13
4.1 Device discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2 Maindisplay ....................... 14
4.3 Menuoptions ....................... 14
4.4 Firmware update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
A Specifications 17
B Troubleshooting 21
B.1 AMPindicator ...................... 21
ix

xContents
B.2 OVENindicator...................... 21
B.3 Errorstates ........................ 22
B.4 Stateflags......................... 23
C Laser head board 25
C.1 B5185 headboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
C.2 Headboard connection to controller . . . . . . . . . . 28
D Connector pinouts 29
D.1 Interlock .......................... 30
E Command language 31
E.1 General functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
E.2 Ethernet settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
F Communications 35
F.1 Protocol .......................... 35
F.2 TCP/IP........................... 36
F.3 USB ............................ 36

1. Introduction
The MOGLabs MFE is a modular high-power fibre amplifier system
based on Er and Yb doped active fibres. It uses an internal or
external (depending on the model) seed laser and up to three am-
plification stages providing the output power levels from 500 mW to
20 W. The operating wavelength ranges include 1000 to 1100 nm for
Yb active fibre and 1530 to 1610 nm for Er active fibre.
Every amplifier is equipped with an armoured polarisation-maintaining
(PM) optical fibre cable with an anti-reflection coated (AR) end-
capped FC/APC connector. The output port is located on the front
panel. The fibre length can range from 2 to 5 m.
An external second harmonic generation (SHG) cavity can be con-
nected directly to the amplifier via a standard USB-C (USB 3.0-3.2)
cable. The port is located on the front panel adjacent to the fibre
output.
The device can be controlled via the front panel controls and dis-
play (see below) or remotely via simple text commands communicated
through USB or TCP/IP. Please refer to appendix F for further infor-
mation on computer communications, and appendix E for details on
the control command syntax.
1

2Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Front panel controls
OVEN
LASER RADIATION
Fibre Ampli�er
ON
OFF
OVEN
AMP
STANDBY/RUN In STANDBY mode, the amplifier is disabled, no current is applied to
the pump diodes.
In RUN mode, the internal amplification stages are placed into standby,
ready to be activated. On first power-up and during the boot pro-
cedure the MFE will halt if the key is already in the RUN position,
to ensure that the laser cannot be accidentally powered following
a power failure. The keyswitch should be set to STANDBY and then
to RUN to initiate user control. Place the unit back into STANDBY if
the unit will not be operated for some time, such as overnight.
AMP OFF/ON Amplifier on/off. The STANDBY/RUN key switch must be in the RUN
position to power on the amplifier.
If the amplifier controller fails to switch to STANDBY mode (indicator
does not show yellow), see Appendix B.
OVEN OFF/ON External SHG oven on/off. The oven can be switched on and off
regardless of the STANDBY/RUN key switch position.
If the oven controller fails to switch to STANDBY mode (indicator does
not show yellow), see Appendix B.
ADJUST The rotary encoder allows variation of any editable value on the
display. The knob can be pressed to step through different digits of
the value being edited, to allow for fine and coarse control.
EMERGENCY STOP The entire system can be turned off by pushing the emergency stop
button on the front panel. This will break the connection with mains
power.

1.2 Rear panel connections 3
,→The two buttons below the adjust knob allow selection of the digit
of a value being edited.
,↑,↓, OK Menu control buttons to navigate the menu system. steps back-
wards one me u level; ↑or ↓step up and down between lines on
any given menu; OK moves forward in the menu system or executes
selected system function.
1.2 Rear panel connections
Made in Australia INTERLOCK
TTL IN
MOD IN Model:
Serial:
IEC power in The unit supports a wide range of input voltages and frequencies
from 80-264 VAC 47–63 Hz.
FIBRE INPUT The PM fibre mating sleeve for external seed laser. Presence de-
pends on system model. A non-AR coated FC/APC fibre connector
must be used. The maximum input power must not exceed 35 mW.
CURRENT MOD SMA input provides AC or DC coupling to an active modulation circuit
of the internal seed laser. Note that connection to the SMA input
will reduce the diode current by about 2.5 mA (B1240), with zero
input voltage. ±2 V input max, 1 mA/V sensitivity and bandwidth of
10 kHz.
LASER DRIVER Connection to laser driver. Presence depdends on system model.
External laser driver must provide diode current, temperature sense,
and TEC current for the internal seed laser. Compatible with MOGLabsDLC
controllers; a DVI-D Dual Link cable is required.

4Chapter 1. Introduction
USB USB-A hi-speed (USB 2.0) input to MFE microcontroller.
Ethernet RJ45 10/100 twisted pair ethernet to MFE microcontroller.
MOD IN External modulation of the output power. 0 −1.2 V input max, in-
verted. The input is DC-coupled. Affects the final amplification stage
only. The minimum output power depends on system configuration,
but will not reach zero. A standard 50 Ω BNC cable is required.
TTL IN Amplifier switch off TTL trigger input. Active low, 5 V tolerant.
INTERLOCK The MFE will not power on the pump diodes unless the pins on this
port are shorted. A standard 5-pin M12 connector is provided; see
appendix D for pinout. The pins should be shorted using a relay for
integration with laboratory interlock system. Do not apply a voltage
directly across the pins.

2. Menus
The MOGLabs MFE can be controlled via a detailed on-screen menu
system. There are four push buttons to the right of the LCD display,
to step through the menus. The large encoder knob can be rotated
to change a value, and also acts as a push-button to select the
character or digit to be adjusted.
The LCD display provides status and control information in the fol-
lowing pages:
Main Critical values and settings
Report Key parameters from each amplification stage
Oven External SHG cavity oven settings
Options Full settings menu system
Ethernet Ethernet (TCP/IP) configuration
Display Display settings
2.1 Main menu
The default screen on power-up, showing the final amplification
stage pump diode set current and approximate output power. The
yellow bar shows that the pump diode current is selected for ad-
justment. Rotate the adjust knob to change the current; use the ↓
button to select a different parameter, or to move the cursor down
5

6Chapter 2. Menus
to the Report→or Options→line and press OK to enter into other
menus.
2.2 Report menu
The Report menu provides access to crucial information of each am-
plification stage inside the fibre amplifier. The number of stages
may vary depending on the model.
2.3 Oven menu
The Oven menu provides control of the external SHG crystal ove, if
available.
2.4 Options
The Options menu allows access to infrequently required informa-
tion, including device uptime, display settings, and firmware ver-

2.5 Ethernet settings 7
sions. There are also options to restore default settings, reset the
settings and firmware to factory values, and to restart the device.
2.5 Ethernet settings
TCP/IP network parameters. To effect new settings, select the Restart
ethernet menu option which is initially off-screen at the bottom.

8Chapter 2. Menus