Multi‐component yttrium aluminosilicate (YAS) fiber prepared by melt‐in‐tube method for stable single‐frequency laser

Abstract

AbstractThe multi‐component glass fibers have demonstrated their unique advantages in the application of single‐frequency lasers due to their higher solubility of rare‐earth ions and thus a higher gain per unit length in a compact fiber laser cavity. In this study, multi‐component yttrium aluminosilicate (YAS) fiber with high doping concentration of Yb3+ was prepared by the “melt‐in‐tube” (MIT) method. A unit‐length gain of 3 dB/cm was obtained in a 4.4 cm‐long YAS fiber, the laser output slope efficiency reached 23.8% in a 10 cm‐long Yb:YAS fiber. Single‐frequency laser operation was achieved in a 1.7‐cm‐long Yb:YAS active fiber. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of single‐frequency laser with this YAS glass fiber as gain medium. The novel multi‐component YAS fiber can be applied as a new gain material to realize single‐frequency fiber laser.