Impact of cavity loss on the performance of a single-mode Yb:silica MOFPA array

•The modified simulation for home-made lossy Yb:silica MOFPA array is presented.•Rate equations are developed by considering the loss of each passive component.•Parasitic ASE noise is investigated for fiber amplifier in small-signal regime.•The simulation is validated using data taken by systematic experiments.

In this work, the numerical analysis of an end-pumped continuous-wave (CW) double-clad (DC) master oscillator fiber power amplifier (MOFPA) configuration with linear-cavity has been carried out, based on the set of propagation rate equations. The modified analysis considers the distributed losses of pump coupling, fiber end-face cleaving (air-reflection), splice points, combiners, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as well as scattering losses and parasitic noises due to amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) along the array. Furthermore, a series of experiments have been performed using a home-made oscillator–amplifier configuration. The empirical data taken from the single-mode (SM) ytterbium (Yb)-doped silica fiber laser amplifier were used to verify the numerical simulation accordingly.