Dual-band Tm3+-doped tellurite fiber amplifier and laser at 1.9\u2009\u03bcm and 2.3\u2009\u03bcm

S V Muravyev,A V Andrianov,V V Dorofeev,S E Motorin,A V Kim,E A Anashkina,M Y Koptev

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-34546-w

Abstract

Ultrabroadband amplification and two-color CW lasing simultaneously near 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm in a Tm3+-doped tellurite fiber were demonstrated experimentally, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. A low-loss Tm3+-doped core fiber from TeO2–ZnO–La2O3–Na2O glasses stable against crystallization was produced by a special technique, providing a low concentration of hydroxyl groups. Supercontinuum from a highly GeO2 doped silica fiber pumped by an Er fiber laser system was used as a seed for an amplifier. A maximum gain of 30 dB and 7 dB was measured at 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm, respectively. We report detailed experimental and theoretical studies, which are in a very good agreement, of laser amplification and generation in the manufactured fiber with carefully measured and calculated parameters. A quantitatively verified numerical model was used to predict power scalability at 2.3 μm in schemes with optimized parameters at increased pump power. The presented results show that a high-quality tellurite fiber is a promising candidate for developing lasers in the 2.3 μm atmospheric window which are particularly relevant for applications in gas sensing, eye-safe laser radars, breath analysis, remote sensing and stand-off trace gas detection.

Highlights

Ultrabroadband amplification and two-color CW lasing simultaneously near 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm in a Tm3+-doped tellurite fiber were demonstrated experimentally, for the first time to the best of our knowledge
Laser sources operating in the 2.3 μm atmospheric window are relevant for applications in gas sensing, eye-safe laser radars, breath analysis, biomedicine, remote sensing, and stand-off trace gas detection, especially in oil and gas industry[1]
Tm3+-doped silica fibers traditionally used for generation near 2 μm at the 3F4 → 3H6 transition in different regimes do not produce laser action at 2.3 μm at the 3H4 → 3H5 transition due to multiphonon relaxation that limits the lifetime of the excited state

Summary

Introduction

Ultrabroadband amplification and two-color CW lasing simultaneously near 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm in a Tm3+-doped tellurite fiber were demonstrated experimentally, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The numerical results are in a very good agreement with experimental ones, so the developed theoretical model can be used to optimize amplifiers based on the developed Tm3+-doped tellurite fiber.

Results

Conclusion