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Journal ArticleDOI

Highly efficient high-power thulium-doped germanate glass fiber laser

15 Mar 2007-Optics Letters (Optical Society of America)-Vol. 32, Iss: 6, pp 638-640
TL;DR: A 64 W fiber laser at 1.9 microm with a slope efficiency of 68% with respect to the launching pump power at 800 nm was demonstrated in a one-end pump configuration using a piece of 20 cm long newly developed thulium-doped germanate glass double-cladding single-mode fiber.
Abstract: A 64 W fiber laser at 1.9 μm with a slope efficiency of 68% with respect to the launching pump power at 800 nm was demonstrated in a one-end pump configuration using a piece of 20 cm long newly developed thulium-doped germanate glass double-cladding single-mode fiber. A quantum efficiency of 1.8 was achieved. An output laser power of 104 W at 1.9 μm was demonstrated from a piece of 40 cm long fiber with a dual-end pump configuration.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review summarizes the different rare-earth cations and host materials used in mid-infrared fiber laser technology, and discusses the future applications and challenges for the field.
Abstract: Fibre lasers in the mid-infrared regime are useful for a diverse range of fields, including chemical and biomedical sensing, military applications and materials processing. This Review summarizes the different rare-earth cations and host materials used in mid-infrared fibre laser technology, and discusses the future applications and challenges for the field.

974 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the thermal and viscosity properties of tellurite and germanate glass for fiber fabrication and compare the linear loss for near and mid-IR device engineering.

363 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Godard et al. as discussed by the authors reviewed the main technologies, restricted to continuous-wave (CW) and nanosecond pulsed sources emitting in the 2-12 µm range, and discussed the pros and cons of these technologies in the context of several selected applications.

355 citations


Cites background from "Highly efficient high-power thulium..."

  • ...Schematic of a thulium-doped germanate fiber laser setup (top) and laser output power versus launching pump power (bottom), after [2]....

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  • ...2) [2]....

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Book ChapterDOI
01 Feb 2010
TL;DR: The wavelength range around 2 μm which is covered by the laser systems described in this chapter is part of the so called "eye safe" wavelength region which begins at about 1.4 μm as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The wavelength range around 2 μm which is covered by the laser systems described in this chapter is part of the so called “eye safe” wavelength region which begins at about 1.4 μm. Laser systems that operate in this region offer exceptional advantages for free space applications compared to conventional systems that operate at shorter wavelengths. This gives them a great market potential for the use in LIDAR and gas sensing systems and for direct optical communication applications. The favourable absorption in water makes such lasers also very useful for medical applications. As it can be seen in figure 1, there is a strong absorption peak near 2 μm which reduces the penetration depth of this wavelength in tissue to a few hundred μm.

344 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Recent advances of high-power continuous wave, Q-switched, mode-locked, and single-frequency fiber lasers in the 1, 1.5, 2, and 3 μm regions and their applications in such areas as industry, medicine, research, defense, and security are addressed in detail.
Abstract: Fiber lasers have seen progressive developments in terms of spectral coverage and linewidth, output power, pulse energy, and ultrashort pulse width since the first demonstration of a glass fiber laser in 1964. Their applications have extended into a variety of fields accordingly. In this paper, the milestones of glass fiber laser development are briefly reviewed and recent advances of high-power continuous wave, Q-switched, mode-locked, and single-frequency fiber lasers in the 1, 1.5, 2, and 3 μm regions and their applications in such areas as industry, medicine, research, defense, and security are addressed in detail.

318 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A highly-efficient cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber laser generating 1.36 kW of continuous-wave output power at 1.1 mum with 83% slope efficiency and near diffraction-limited beam quality is demonstrated.
Abstract: We have demonstrated a highly-efficient cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber laser generating 1.36 kW of continuous-wave output power at 1.1 µm with 83% slope efficiency and near diffraction-limited beam quality. The laser was end-pumped through both fiber ends and showed no evidence of roll-over even at the highest output power, which was limited only by available pump power.

887 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Measurements of the slope efficiency and the pump power at threshold for a number of Tm3+-doped silica double-clad fiber lasers that incorporate fibers that have a range of T m3+ concentrations indicate that the cross relaxation process, 3F4, 3H6 --> 3H4,3H 4, 3 H4, has a significant effect on the efficiency of the laser despite the relatively short lifetime of the3F4 energy level.
Abstract: We present measurements of the slope efficiency and the pump power at threshold for a number of Tm3+-doped silica double-clad fiber lasers that incorporate fibers that have a range of Tm3+ concentrations. We obtain a slope efficiency for the approximately 2-microm 3H4 --> 3H6 laser transition that is greater than the Stokes efficiency limit for a Tm3+ concentration as low as 1.3 wt. %. These results indicate that the cross relaxation process, 3F4, 3H6 --> 3H4, 3H4, has a significant effect on the efficiency of the laser despite the relatively short lifetime of the 3F4 energy level. Energy migration of the excitation at the 3F4 level through the process 3F4, 3H6 --> 3H6, 3F4 may be enhancing the cross-relaxation mechanism. We also show the importance of reducing the level of clustering of the Tm3+ ion when it is doped into silica by use of appropriate amounts of Al3+ codopant. For Tm3+ concentrations of >1 wt. %, Al3+/Tm3+ concentration ratios of > 10 are recommended forreducing scattering losses, quenching the lifetime, or both.

124 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Efficient operation of diode-pumped single-frequency fiber lasers at wavelengths from 1740 to 2017 nm has been demonstrated by using a very short piece of newly developed single-mode active fiber, i.e., heavily thulium-doped germanate glass fiber.
Abstract: Efficient operation of diode-pumped single-frequency fiber lasers at wavelengths from 1740 to 2017 nm has been demonstrated by using a very short piece of newly developed single-mode active fiber, i.e., heavily thulium-doped germanate glass fiber. At 1893 nm, the single-frequency fiber laser has a pump threshold of 30 mW, a slope efficiency of 35%, and maximum output power of 50 mW with respect to the launched power of single-mode pump diodes at 805 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest lasing efficiency achieved in single-frequency fiber lasers operating near 2 μm. Frequency noise of the single-frequency fiber laser at 1893nm has been characterized and compared with that of single-frequency fiber lasers at 1 and 1.55 μm.

111 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Efficient high-power operation of an erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber laser cladding-pumped by two spatially-multiplexed and polarization combined 975 nm diode-stacks is reported.
Abstract: Efficient high-power operation of an erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber laser cladding-pumped by two spatially-multiplexed and polarization combined 975 nm diode-stacks is reported. Up to 188 W of continuous-wave output at 1.57 µm was generated with a beam-quality factor (M2) of 1.9 and an overall slope efficiency with respect to launched pump power of 41% (and 43% for output powers Tunable operation was demonstrated by use of an external cavity containing a diffraction grating and a maximum output power of 108 W at 1538 nm was generated for a launched pump power of ~ 336 W. The operating wavelength was tunable from 1531 to 1571 nm, with >100W output power over a tuning range of 36 nm from 1532 nm to 1568 nm.

108 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Tm-doped alkali germanate glass is investigated for use as a laser material in this paper, which shows promise as a fiber laser when pumped with 0.792 m diodes because of low phonon energies.
Abstract: Tm-doped alkali germanate glass is investigated for use as a laser material. Spectroscopic investigations of bulk Tm-doped germanate glass are reported for the absorption, emission and luminescence decay. Tm:germanate shows promise as a fiber laser when pumped with 0.792 m diodes because of low phonon energies. Spectroscopic analysis indicates low nonradiative quenching and pulsed laser performance studies confirm this prediction by showing a quantum efficiency of 1.69.

103 citations