High-power Tm-doped fiber distributed-feedback laser at 1943 nm

Abstract

We report on high-power operation of a fiber distributed-feedback (DFB) laser fabricated from Tm-doped photosensitive alumino-silicate fiber and in-band pumped by an Er/Yb fiber laser at 1565 nm. The fiber DFB laser yielded up to 875 mW of single-ended output at 1943 nm on two orthogonally polarized modes for 3.5 W of absorbed pump power. Further scaling of the DFB laser output power was achieved with the aid of a simple Tm-doped fiber amplifier stage spliced directly to the DFB fiber without the need of an optical isolator. The maximum output power from the DFB laser and fiber amplifier was >3 W for a combined absorbed pump power of 8.1 W. The influence of thermal loading, owing to quantum defect heating in the Tm-doped core, on the output power and longitudinal mode behavior is discussed, and the prospects for further improvement in performance are considered.

Gain-switching pulse generation of Tm-doped fiber ring laser pumped with 1.6-µm laser diodes

“…In order to expand the application fields, the Tm-doped fiber lasers ought to be compact and work with energy-saving operation. As the Tm 3+ ions have several absorption bands, the Tm-doped fiber lasers have been reported with various pump sources, such as laser diodes (LDs), Nd:YAG lasers, Raman lasers, Er-doped fiber lasers, and Er/Yb-codoped fiber lasers [6][7][8][9][10]. Compared with them, in-band pumping by using the LDs at 1.6 μm band improves the Stokes efficiency and miniaturizes the total laser system [11].…”

Tandem-pumped, tunable thulium-doped fiber laser in 21 μm wavelength region

“…Conventionally, Tm-doped fiber lasers were pumped at 792 nm ( 3 H 6 → 3 F 4 transition), allowing for direct diode pumping and offering high conversion efficiencies due to the 2-for-1 cross-relaxation process of the Tm ions [14,17,18]. Alternatively, Tm-doped fiber lasers were also pumped at around 1565 nm ( 3 H 6 → 3 H 4 transition) by Er-doped fiber lasers with a diffraction-limited beam [15,[19][20][21], with the advantages of high Stocks efficiency and hence low quantum-defect-induced heat generation. A Tm-doped fiber laser could also be tandempumped by another Tm: fiber laser at > 1900 nm, since the absorption band of a Tm-doped silica fiber related to the 3 H 6 → 3 H 4 transition extends up to > 1900 nm [12], thus allowing for higher Stocks efficiency and further reduction of quantum-defect-induced heat generation [22][23][24][25].…”

Space-propagation model of Tm-doped fiber laser

“…High-power Tm-doped fiber lasers emitting near 2 μm laser beams have become the latest revolution in laser technology [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. They can be widely employed in medicine, lidar, materials processing, and nonlinear frequency conversion to the midinfrared wavelength regime.…”