Abstract
Laser sources emitting in the infrared range at around 2 µm are attracting great interest for a variety of applications like processing of transparent thermoplastic polymers in industry as well as plenty of applications in medicine, spectroscopy, gas sensing, nonlinear frequency conversion to the mid-infrared, to mention a few. Of late, fiber lasers compared to other kinds of lasers benefit from their all-fiber design, leading to a compact, robust, and well thermally manageable device. Particularly, thulium- and holmium-doped fiber lasers are the first choice in fiber lasers emitting light around 2 µm. In this paper, we give an overview of our recent results in the research on thulium- and holmium-doped optical fibers, fiber lasers, and related research topics in the 2-µm spectral range. In particular, we present, to our knowledge, the first results of improvement of pump absorption in double-clad fibers thanks to the fiber twist frozen during drawing. Finally, a brief demonstration of material processing by thulium all-fiber laser operating at 2 µm is presented.
Highlights
Many processes in industry, sensing, defense, medicine, and other branches of human activities could accommodate lasers with all-fiber configuration working in the 2-μm wavelength range.thulium-doped (Tm), holmium-doped (Ho), or thulium and holmium co-doped (Tm:Ho) fiber lasers have been demonstrated [1]
We review our recent progress in the research of Tm- and Ho-doped optical fibers, fiber components, fiber lasers, and broadband light sources working at the 2-μm spectral range
In 2007, we have proved in ref. [43], a novel concept of nanoparticle doping (ND), where we used the colloidal solutions of ceramic nanoparticles instead of true solutions applied in the SD method
Summary
Many processes in industry, sensing, defense, medicine, and other branches of human activities could accommodate lasers with all-fiber configuration working in the 2-μm wavelength range. Thulium-doped (Tm), holmium-doped (Ho), or thulium and holmium co-doped (Tm:Ho) fiber lasers have been demonstrated [1] They belong to the group of so-called eye-safe lasers since the light with a wavelength longer than 1.4 μm is strongly absorbed in the human eye’s vitreous parts and it is generally less probable to damage the retina [2]. Over 1a: the from start the of results showing laser1a: output evolution results of thulium fiber laser reviewed in Figure exploitation of the so-called two-for-one cross-relaxation process for pumping [21,22,23], pumping by pioneering results at the end of eighties [18,19,20] over the start of exploitation of the so-called two-for-one high-power erbium fiber lasers [24] at the turn of pumping millennium culminated with about.
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