We have successfully demonstrated a single-frequency distributed-feedback (DFB) thulium-doped silica fiber laser emitting at a wavelength of 1735 nm. The laser cavity is less than 5 cm long and is formed by intracore UV-written Bragg gratings with a phase shift. The laser is pumped at 790 nm from a Ti:sapphire laser and has a threshold pump power of 59 mW. The laser has a maximum output power of 1 mW in a single-frequency, single-polarization radiation mode and is tunable over a few nanometers. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a single-frequency DFB fiber laser that uses thulium as the amplifying medium. The lasing wavelength is the longest demonstrated with DFB fiber lasers and yet is among the shortest obtained for thulium-doped silica fiber lasers.

A 32 mW fiber laser is stabilized to the (13)C(2)H(2) P(16) (ν1 + ν3) transition at 1542 nm using saturated absorption. The short-term shot-noise limited fractional frequency instability is 5.0 × 10(-13)(τ/s)-½ for averaging times τ up to about 100 s. The relative lock-point repeatability over 2½ month is 4.3 × 10(-13) corresponding to 83 Hz. The simple setup includes a 21 cm long gas cell, but it does not require an enhancement cavity or external modulators. The spectroscopic lineshape is analyzed with respect to optical power and acetylene pressure. Narrow linewidths of 300 kHz FWHM are observed with a signal to noise ratio of 35 dB in a 9 Hz bandwidth.

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