Single-transverse-mode 2.5-W holmium-doped fluoride fiber laser operating at 2.86 microm

A high-power tandem-pumped Ho3+, Pr3+-doped ZBLAN fiber laser is demonstrated. Using the free-running 1100-nm output from a diode-cladding-pumped Yb3+-doped silica fiber laser as the pump source, a maximum output power of 2.5 W was generated at a slope efficiency of 29% after the threshold of approximately 30 mW was reached. Saturation of the output is avoided with Pr3+ codoping, which allows single-transition output. The center wavelength of the output was 2.86 microm and the bandwidth at maximum power was approximately 15 nm.     

Dual-wavelength continuous-wave cascade oscillation at 3 and 2 mum with a holmium-doped fluoride-glass fiber laser

We have demonstrated dual-wavelength continuous-wave oscillation at 3 and 2 mum with a Ho-doped ZrF(4)- BaF(2)- LaF(3)- AlF(3)- NaF fluoride-glass fiber laser by use of a cascade oscillation scheme. We have shown that the fiber laser operates with a high slope efficiency of 52% (at 3 and 2microm) with respect to the absorbed pump power. With a 6.5-m-long fiber we achieved an output power of 90 mW at each of the wavelengths that was limited only by the pump power, and the 3-microm output power is to our knowledge higher than any previously reported level with 3-mum Ho(3+) -doped fiber lasers.     

Tm(3+)/Ho(3+) codoped tellurite fiber laser

Continuous-wave and Q-switched lasing from a Tm(3+)/Ho(3+) codoped tellurite fiber is reported. An Yb(3+)/Er(3+)-doped silica fiber laser operating at 1.6 microm was used as an in-band pump source, exciting the Tm(3+) ions into the (3)F(4) level. Energy is then nonradiatively transferred to the upper laser level, the (5)I(7) state of Ho(3+). The laser transition is from the (5)I(7) level to the (5)I(8) level, and the resulting emission is at 2.1 microm. For continuous wave operation, the slope efficiency was 62% and the threshold 0.1 W; the maximum output demonstrated was 0.16 W. Mechanical Q switching resulted in a pulse of 0.65 microJ energy and 160 ns duration at a repetition rate of 19.4 kHz.     

Comparative study of continuous wave Tm<Superscript>3+</Superscript>-doped silica and fluoride fiber lasers

We compare Tm³⁺-doped silica and fluoride fiber lasers in continuous wave operation using the same experimental setup. For incident pump powers of up to 50 W, the fluoride fiber is shown to have higher output power and efficiency compared to silica and reaches a maximum output power of 20 W at 1.94 μm. A slope efficiency of 49% (41%) and a maximum optical-to-optical efficiency of 45% (35%) at an incident pump power of 25 W (37 W) were determined for the fluoride (silica) fibers, respectively. These optical-to-optical efficiencies are the highest reported for directly diode-pumped Tm³⁺-based fiber lasers. We establish that in free-running mode, fiber lasers using fluoride glass are temporally more stable than fiber lasers using a silica host. PACS 42.55.Wd; 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Mi; 42.70.Hj     

Efficient approximately 2 microm Tm3+ -doped tellurite fiber laser

Laser emission in the range of 1.88-1.99 micrim from a Tm3+ -doped tellurite fiber is demonstrated when pumped with a diode-pumped Er3+/Yb3+-doped silica fiber laser operating at 1.57-1.61 microm. This pump source excites the Tm3+ ions directly into the F43 upper laser level and yields an output power of 280 mW with a slope efficiency of 76% in a 99%-12% laser cavity arrangement and a 32 cm long fiber. This result is very close to the Stokes efficiency limit of approximately 80%. This is, to the authors' knowledge, the first demonstration of high efficiency lasing in a tellurite fiber at wavelengths longer than 1.56 microm.     

Efficient 521 nm all-fiber laser: splicing Pr(3+)-doped ZBLAN fiber to end-coated silica fiber

We demonstrated a green all-fiber laser by splicing both ends of a Pr(3+)-doped ZBLAN fiber to silica fibers, whose ends were coated with a dielectric thin film. The output power and the slope efficiency were 322 mW and 53%, respectively, and the coupled pump power of the two blue GaN pump lasers in the silica fiber core was 652 mW. We estimated that the damage threshold of the spliced structure was at least 21 MW/cm2. This splicing technique should be applicable for other wavelengths and glass fibers having low melting temperatures.     

Efficient grating-tuned mid-infrared Cr2+:CdSe laser

Room-temperature, all-solid-state, broadly tunable laser operation of Cr(2+) -doped CdSe has been demonstrated. Pumping with a Q -switched Tm, Ho:YLF laser running at a 1-kHz repetition rate achieved broadband output of 500 mW at 2.6mum with 48% absorbed power slope efficiency. With reduced efficiency, as much as 815 mW of power was obtained. With a diffraction grating, the Cr(2+): CdSe laser was tuned from 2.3 to 2.9mum with 10-nm bandwidth (FWHM) and output power up to 350 mW.     

High-power diode-pumped fiber laser operating at 3 μm

A high-power diode-cladding-pumped Ho3?-doped fluoride glass fiber laser operating in cascade mode is demonstrated. The ?I?→?I? and ?I?→?I? laser transitions produced 0.77 W at a measured slope efficiency of 12.4% and 0.24 W at a measured slope efficiency of 5.2%, respectively. Using a long fiber length, which forced a large threshold for the ?I?→?I? transition, a wavelength of 3.002 μm was measured at maximum output power, making this system the first watt-level fiber laser operating in the mid-IR.     

High-power and highly efficient Tm3+-doped silica fiber lasers pumped with diode lasers operating at 1150 nm

An output power of 1.74 W at 2.03 microm was generated at a slope efficiency of 51% when a double-clad Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber laser was pumped with high-power 1150 nm diode lasers. Pump excited state absorption from the upper laser level populates higher energy levels allowing cross relaxation to repopulate the upper laser level at a quantum efficiency greater than unity and to limit losses relating to additional pump excited state absorption. The output power was scaled to 4.77 W when both ends of the fiber were pumped.     

包层泵浦的高功率掺铥光纤激光器

研究了一种输出功率高且光束质量好的包层泵浦的掺铥光纤激光器.当泵浦功率达到30 W时,该掺铥光纤激光器产生的最大输出功率是6.1 W,且波长在2 μm左右,斜率效率达到55.6%,产生激光的阈值是2.2 W.当输出功率为3.3 W时,测得光束质量M2X和M2Y分别为1.26和1.32.     

Actively Q-switched 2.9 μm Ho(3+)Pr(3+)-doped fluoride fiber laser

We report an efficient Q-switched Ho(3+)Pr(3+)-doped fluoride fiber laser, producing a peak power of 77 W, with pulse width of 78 ns. A slope efficiency of 20% with respect to the launched pump power was achieved. A TeO(2) acousto-optic modulator allowed continuous tunability of the pulse repetition frequency from 40 to 300 kHz.     

Tm3+/Ho3+共掺碲酸盐微结构光纤激光器

用棒管法拉制了Tm³⁺/Ho³⁺掺杂的碲酸盐微结构光纤,并获得了2 μm的激光输出。以1 560 nm的Er³⁺掺杂石英光纤激光器作为泵浦源,在22 cm长的微结构光纤中,得到了最大功率为8.34 mW、波长为2 065 nm的连续激光输出,泵浦光功率为507 mW,斜率效率为2.97%。研究结果表明,Tm³⁺/Ho³⁺共掺碲酸盐微结构光纤是一种用于研制2 μm激光器的理想材料。     

High-power and highly efficient diode-cladding-pumped Ho3+-doped silica fiber lasers

We demonstrate high-power operation from a singly Ho3+-doped silica fiber laser that is cladding pumped directly with diode lasers operating at 1150 nm. Internal slope efficiencies approaching the Stokes limit were produced, and the maximum output power was 2.2W. This result was achieved using a low Ho3+-ion concentration and La3+-ion codoping, which together limit the transfer of energy between excited Ho3+ ions.     

2.7-W Ho<Superscript>3+</Superscript>-doped silica fibre laser pumped at 1100 nm and operating at 2.1 μm

The basic performance characteristics of a Ho ³⁺-doped silica fibre laser that operates in a single transverse mode at ~2.1 µm and is pumped with the 1100-nm output from a free-running Yb ³⁺-doped silica fibre laser are presented. We measure a maximum slope efficiency (with respect to launched pump power) of 35% and we generate a maximum output power of 2.7 W at an optical-to-optical efficiency of 18% with respect to the incident pump power. The wavelength of the output is length tuned from 2090 nm to 2100 nm when the a _absL product varies from 1.2 to 2.7. The use of the free-running output from a Yb ³⁺-doped silica fibre laser to pump the Ho ³⁺-doped silica fibre laser is very convenient and allows significant scaling of the output power.     

Short Tm3+-doped fiber lasers with watt-level output near 2 μm

High-power operation of diode-pumped fiber lasers at wavelength near 2μm are demonstrated with short length of heavily Tm3 -doped silica glass fibers. With 7-cm long fiber, a laser at near 2 μm is obtained with the threshold of 135 mW, maximum output power of 1.09 W, and slope efficiency of 9.6% with respect to the launched power from a laser diode at 790 nm. The output stability of this fiber laser is within 5%.The dependence of the performance of fiber lasers on the operation temperature and cavity configuration parameters is also investigated.     

2.1 μm可调谐多波长掺钬光纤激光器

为了实现2.1 μm波段光纤激光器输出多波长激光，设计了一种基于光纤Sagnac干涉仪的可调谐多波长掺钬光纤激光器。采用1.9 μm波段掺铥光纤激光器泵浦一段长3 m的掺钬石英光纤，获得2.1 μm波段的光放大；环形腔中，由保偏光纤和偏振控制器构成的光纤Sagnac干涉仪，实现2.1 μm波段周期滤波，获得了2.1 μm波段多波长激光，输出功率1 mW~15 mW可调谐，最多可观测到6个波长的激光输出。通过调节环形腔内偏振控制器，能够实现2.1 μm波段1~6个波长的调谐。     

Yb3+-doped double-clad fiber laser with all fiber cavity

A novel all fiber cavity Yb3+-doped double-clad fiber laser (DCFL) based on two double-clad fiber (DCF)Bragg grating is presented. The fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as the input and output mirrors have been formed in Yb3+-doped DCF with the phase-mask method, and their reflectivities are 99% and 22%,respectively. When the input pump power is 417 mW, the maximum output power is 144 mW with linewidth ＜0.1 nm at the wavelength of 1.057μm, over 40-dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and 50.8% slope efficiency.     

Efficient single-axial-mode operation of a Ho:YAG ring laser pumped by a Tm-doped silica fiber laser

Efficient single-frequency operation of a Ho:YAG ring laser at room temperature with a traveling-wave TeO2 acousto-optic modulator to enforce unidirectional operation is reported. By use of a 2-at. % Ho3+-doped 10-mm-long Ho:YAG rod, end pumped by a cladding-pumped tunable Tm-doped silica fiber operating at 1.9 microm, the Ho:YAG ring laser yielded 3.7 W of single-frequency output at 2.1 microm in a diffraction-limited TEM00 beam with M2 < 1.1 for an incident pump power of 8.8 W. The rf power required for unidirectional operation was 0.3 W and corresponded to an increase in cavity loss for the lasing direction (due to diffraction) of only 0.5%. The prospects for further improvement in efficiency are discussed.     

Narrow linewidth, 100 W cw Yb3+-doped silica fiber laser with a point-by-point Bragg grating inscribed directly into the active core

We report on the power scaling to 103 W of a 1.1 microm continuous-wave Yb(3+)-doped silica fiber laser incorporating a point-by-point (PbP) fiber-Bragg grating inscribed directly into the active core using 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses. The spectrum of the laser exhibited a narrow linewidth that broadened to 260 pm at 103 W. The output was frequency doubled using an 11 mm long periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3 crystal to generate 2.1 W of green with an internal conversion efficiency of 10% at high power and 0.81%/W at low power.     

强泵浦下掺Yb3+双包层光纤激光器输出特性数值分析和实验研究

对强泵浦下线形腔掺Yb3+双包层光纤激光器输出特性进行了理论和实验研究。通过数值模拟,分析了泵浦光及激光在光纤中的分布、输出功率与泵浦功率的关系、光纤长度及腔镜反射率对激光输出功率的影响。在实验中,利用D型掺Yb3+双包层光纤获得了输出功率10 6W的光纤激光输出,斜率效率达86%。测量了在不同输出耦合条件下的输出功率、阈值泵浦功率和斜率效率,理论分析与实验结果基本一致,为进一步提高光纤激光器功率提供了理论和实验依据。