Mode-locked 2 μm laser with highly thulium-doped silicate fiber
TL;DR: This is the first demonstration of mode-locked 2 mum fiber laser using shorter than 1-m-long active fiber, which paves the way for the demonstration ofmode-locked fiber laser at 2 mum with gigahertz fundamental repetition rate.
Abstract: We report self-starting passively mode-locked fiber lasers with a saturable absorber mirror using a piece of 30-cm-long newly developed highly thulium (Tm)-doped silicate glass fibers. The mode-locked pulses operate at 1980 nm with duration of 1.5 ps and energy of 0.76 nJ. This newly developed Tm-doped silicate fiber exhibits a slope efficiency of 68.3%, an amplified spontaneous emission spectrum bandwidth (FWHM) of 92 nm, and a gain per unit length of greater than 2 dB/cm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first demonstration of mode-locked 2 μm fiber laser using shorter than 1-m-long active fiber, which paves the way for the demonstration of mode-locked fiber laser at 2 μm with gigahertz fundamental repetition rate.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors demonstrate mode-locking of a thulium-doped fiber laser operating at 1.94 μm, using a graphene-polymer based saturable absorber.
Abstract: We demonstrate mode-locking of a thulium-doped fiber laser operating at 1.94 μm, using a graphene-polymer based saturable absorber. The laser outputs 3.6 ps pulses, with ~0.4 nJ energy and an amplitude fluctuation ~0.5%, at 6.46 MHz. This is a simple, low-cost, stable and convenient laser oscillator for applications where eye-safe and low-photon-energy light sources are required, such as sensing and biomedical diagnostics.
259 citations
TL;DR: This work demonstrates mode-locking of a thulium-doped fiber laser operating at 1.94 μm, using a graphene-polymer based saturable absorber, which is a simple, low-cost, stable and convenient laser oscillator for applications where eye-safe and low-photon-energy light sources are required.
Abstract: We demonstrate mode-locking of a thulium-doped fiber laser operating at 1.94\mu m, using a graphene-based saturable absorber. The laser outputs 3.6ps pulses, with~0.4nJ energy and an amplitude fluctuation~0.5%, at 6.46MHz. This is a simple, low-cost, stable and convenient laser oscillator for applications where eye-safe and low-photon-energy light sources are required, such as sensing and biomedical diagnostics
250 citations
TL;DR: The results of this experiment confirm that WS2 can be used as an effective broadband saturable absorption material that is suitable to passively generate pulses at 2 μm wavelengths.
Abstract: We demonstrate the use of an all-fiberized, mode-locked 1.94 μm laser with a saturable absorption device based on a tungsten disulfide (WS2)-deposited side-polished fiber. The WS2 particles were prepared via liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) without centrifugation. A series of measurements including Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that the prepared particles had thick nanostructures of more than 5 layers. The prepared saturable absorption device used the evanescent field interaction mechanism between the oscillating beam and WS2 particles and its modulation depth was measured to be ~10.9% at a wavelength of 1925 nm. Incorporating the WS2-based saturable absorption device into a thulium-holmium co-doped fiber ring cavity, stable mode-locked pulses with a temporal width of ~1.3 ps at a repetition rate of 34.8 MHz were readily obtained at a wavelength of 1941 nm. The results of this experiment confirm that WS2 can be used as an effective broadband saturable absorption material that is suitable to passively generate pulses at 2 μm wavelengths.
162 citations
TL;DR: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first 2 µm region NOLM-based mode-locked fiber laser operating at two regimes with the highest single pulse energy for NL pulses.
Abstract: A self-starting all-fiber passively mode-locked Tm-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear loop mirror (NOLM) is demonstrated. Stable soliton pulses centered at 2017.33 nm with 1.56 nm FWHM were produced at a repetition rate of 1.514 MHz with pulse duration of 2.8 ps and pulse energy of 83.8 pJ. As increased pump power, the oscillator can also operate at noise-like (NL) regime. Stable NL pulses with coherence spike width of 341 fs and pulse energy of up to 249.32 nJ was achieved at a center wavelength of 2017.24 nm with 21.33 nm FWHM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first 2 μm region NOLM-based mode-locked fiber laser operating at two regimes with the highest single pulse energy for NL pulses.
156 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize and review the recent progress of mid-IR mode-locked laser sources, including Tm3+, Ho3+-, and Tm 3+/Ho3+-doped all-solid-state and fiber laser sources for the 2.0μm-3.5μm spectral region.
Abstract: Ultrafast laser sources operating in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) region, which contains the characteristic fingerprint spectra of many important molecules and transparent windows of atmosphere, are of significant importance in a variety of applications. Over the past decade, a significant progress has been made in the development of inexpensive, compact, high-efficiency mid-IR ultrafast mode-locked lasers in the picosecond and femtosecond domains that cover the 2.0 μm–3.5 μm spectral region. These achievements open new opportunities for applications in areas such as molecular spectroscopy, frequency metrology, material processing, and medical diagnostics and treatment. In this review, starting with the introduction of mid-IR mode-locking techniques, we mainly summarize and review the recent progress of mid-IR mode-locked laser sources, including Tm3+-, Ho3+-, and Tm3+/Ho3+-doped all-solid-state and fiber lasers for the 2.0 μm spectral region, Cr2+:ZnSe and Cr2+:ZnS lasers for the 2.4 μm region, and Er3+-, Ho3+/Pr3+-, and Dy3+-doped fluoride fiber lasers for the 2.8 μm–3.5 μm region. Then, some emerging and representative applications of mid-IR ultrafast mode-locked laser sources are presented and illustrated. Finally, outlooks and challenges for future development of ultrafast mid-IR laser sources are discussed and analyzed. The development of ultrafast mid-IR laser sources, together with the ongoing progress in related application technologies, will create new avenues of research and expand unexplored applications in scientific research, industry, and other fields.
133 citations
References
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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.
186 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a femtosecond pulse source that uses a mode-locked Tm-Ho oscillator and a self-frequency shift of Raman solitons in TmHo power amplifier is presented.
Abstract: We report a femtosecond pulse source that uses a mode-locked Tm-Ho oscillator and a self-frequency shift of Raman solitons in Tm-Ho power amplifier. The master oscillator mode-locked by an antimonide-based saturable absorber mirror produces 750-fs transform-limited soliton pulses over the tuning range from 1912 to 1972 nm. The soliton self-frequency shift in the amplifier resulted in transform-limited pulses with the wavelength adjusted by varying the amplifier pump power. We obtain ~150-fs soliton pulses at the wavelength of 2150 nm with average power up to 230 mW corresponding to the peak power of 27 kW. The efficiency of Raman conversion ranges from 47% to 62% over the tuning range
153 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the recent results of their highly efficient directly diode-pumped Tm3+doped silica and Ho3+-doped fiber lasers.
Abstract: We review our recent work in high-power 2-mum fiber laser development, and present the recent results of our highly efficient directly diode-pumped Tm3+-doped silica and Ho3+-doped silica fiber lasers. We quantify the values of the dopant concentrations in the fibers used to construct the 2-mum fiber lasers, and present a more comprehensive assessment of fiber laser performance against dopant concentration.
144 citations
TL;DR: Using a single-mode Er-doped fiber laser at 1575 nm as a core-pump source, a 2-cm-long distributed Bragg reflector fiber laser delivers single-frequency output at 1950 nm with laser linewidth less than 3 kHz, which is, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the narrowest linewitzer demonstrated to date from any 2 microm single- frequency laser.
Abstract: Single-frequency laser operation near 2 μm has been demonstrated in an all-fiber short-cavity (2-6 cm) distributed feedback laser cavity using both cladding- and core-pump configurations in a newly developed heavily Tm-doped multicomponent silicate glass fiber. Using a single-mode Er-doped fiber laser at 1575 nm as a core-pump source, a 2-cm-long distributed Bragg reflector fiber laser delivers single-frequency output at 1950 nm with laser linewidth less than 3 kHz, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the narrowest linewidth demonstrated to date from any 2 μm single-frequency laser.
129 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a silica-based thulium doped fiber laser was used to achieve a near theoretical maximum slope efficiency of 36% (84% photon conversion efficiency) under excitation at 810 nm.
114 citations