Pulsed lasers are used across a wide range of applications, from precision manufacturing such as cutting and welding steel, to medical procedures like LASIK eye surgery, and defense technologies including LIDAR systems for terrain mapping. One major focus of research in the LPL is scaling the output power of pulsed fiber lasers, which are also used as pump sources for Raman lasers.

As pulse energies increase, these systems approach the physical limits of what glass optical fibers can withstand. At high energies, nonlinear optical effects begin to emerge, which can distort the laser spectrum or even lead to catastrophic self-damage. To mitigate these effects, high-energy fiber lasers employ Large Mode Area (LMA) fibers, which are fundamentally different from conventional telecommunications fibers. Unlike standard fiber used for data transmission, LMA fibers have much larger core diameters that spread optical energy over a wider area, reducing intensity and enabling stable operation at higher pulse energies.