Multi-wavelength S-band Tm:ZBLAN fiber lasers

Abstract

Tm 3+ -doped fluoride (ZBLAN) fibers offer amplification and lasing in a wide variety of wavelength ranges, including 810 nm, 1480 nm, 1900 nm, and 2300 nm. 1 Amplification and lasing around 1480 nm through the 3 H 4 → 3 F 4 transition is of interest for extending the capacity of WDM transmission systems, as well as developing sources for pumping erbium-doped fiber and fiber Raman amplifiers. The 3 H 4 → 3 F 4 transition, however, poses a challenge due to its self terminating nature. As such, the 3 F 4 level can be depleted either by colasing at 1900 nm 2 or by using upconversion pumping at 1064 nm. High-power 1480 nm Tm 3+ :ZBLAN fiber lasers with upconversion pumping at 1064 nm have been demonstrated. 3-6 Recent research has focused on improving further the power conversion efficiency as well as the development of monolithic fiber lasers, e.g., by incorporating fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) directly within the Tm 3+ : ZBLAN fiber gain medium. Dual-wavelength and multi-wavelength sources can have many applications in instrumentation (e.g., component testing), LIDAR systems, and fiber optics sensing. There have been several reports of dual-wavelength Tm 3+ -doped fiber lasers. For example, Androz et al . demonstrated operation at 785 nm and 810 nm, corresponding to the 1 G 4 → 3 H 5 and 3 H 4 → 3 H 6 transitions, respectively, with a Tm 3+ :ZBLAN fiber gain medium. 7 Wang et al . obtained dual-wavelength lasing around 2 μm with a tunable wavelength spacing from 1 nm – 40 nm in a Tm 3+ :silica fiber laser. 8 We realized oscillation at 805 nm and 810 nm through the 3 H 4 → 3 H 6 transition in a Tm 3+ :ZBLAN fiber laser; we also reported wavelength switching capability as well as bistable operation in both single cavity and cascaded cavity configurations. 9 In this paper, we extend our work further and report a dual-wavelength Tm 3+ :ZBLAN fiber laser operating in the S-band. Wavelength spacings of 11 nm and as narrow as 0.6 nm are achieved in a linear cascaded cavity configuration with bidirectional upconversion pumping at 1064 nm.