All-fiber Thulium-doped Fiber Laser Research Articles

Sub-150 fs dispersion-managed soliton generation from an all-fiber Tm-doped laser with BP-SA.

We demonstrate an all-fiber, thulium-doped, mode-locked laser using a black phosphorus (BP) saturable absorber (SA). The BP-SA, exhibiting strong nonlinear response, is fabricated by inkjet printing. The oscillator generates self-starting 139 fs dispersion-managed soliton pulses centered at 1859nm with 55.6 nm spectral bandwidth. This is the shortest pulse duration and widest spectral bandwidth achieved directly from an all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser mode-locked with a nanomaterial saturable absorber to date. Our findings demonstrate the applicability of BP for femtosecond pulse generation at 2 µm spectral region.

A 70 W thulium-doped all-fiber laser operating at 1940 nm

An all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser operating at a wavelength of 1940 nm is reported. A maximum output continuous-wave power of 70.7 W with a slope efficiency of 59%, determined with respect to the absorbed pump power, was demonstrated. The laser delivered almost a single-mode beam with a beam quality factor of < 1.3.Full Text: PDF ReferencesM. N. Zervas and C. A. Codemard, "High Power Fiber Lasers: A Review", IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 20, 0904123 (2014). CrossRef D. J. Richardson, J. Nilsson, and W. A. Clarkson. "High power fiber lasers: current status and future perspectives [Invited]", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27, B63 (2010). CrossRef J. Swiderski, A. Zajac, and M. Skorczakowski, "Pulsed ytterbium-doped large mode area double-clad fiber amplifier in MOFPA configuration", Opto-Electron. Rev. 15, 98 (2007). CrossRef M. Eckerle et al. "High-average-power actively-modelocked Tm3+ fiber lasers", Proc. SPIE 8237, 823740 (2012). CrossRef J. Swiderski, D. Dorosz, M. Skorczakowski, and W. Pichola, "Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier with tunable repetition rate and pulse duration", Laser Phys. 20, 1738 (2010). CrossRef P. Grzes and J. Swiderski, "Gain-Switched 2-μm Fiber Laser System Providing Kilowatt Peak-Power Mode-Locked Resembling Pulses and Its Application to Supercontinuum Generation in Fluoride Fibers", IEEE Phot. J. 10, 1 (2018). CrossRef S. Liang et al. "Transmission of wireless signals using space division multiplexing in few mode fibers", Opt. Express 26, 6490 (2018). CrossRef J. Swiderski, M. Michalska, and P. Grzes, "Broadband and top-flat mid-infrared supercontinuum generation with 3.52 W time-averaged power in a ZBLAN fiber directly pumped by a 2-µm mode-locked fiber laser and amplifier", Appl. Phys. B 124, 152 (2018). CrossRef F. Zhao et al. "Electromagnetically induced polarization grating", Sci. Rep. 8, 16369 (2018). CrossRef J. Sotor et al. "Ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser mode locked with black phosphorus", Opt. Lett. 40, 3885 (2015). CrossRef M. Olivier et al. "Femtosecond fiber Mamyshev oscillator at 1550 nm", Opt. Lett. 44, 851 (2019). CrossRef J. Swiderski and M. Michalska, "Over three-octave spanning supercontinuum generated in a fluoride fiber pumped by Er & Er:Yb-doped and Tm-doped fiber amplifiers", Opt. Laser Technol. 52, 75 (2013). CrossRef C.Yao et al. "High-power mid-infrared supercontinuum laser source using fluorotellurite fiber", Optica 5, 1264 (2018). CrossRef J. Swiderski and M. Maciejewska, "Watt-level, all-fiber supercontinuum source based on telecom-grade fiber components", Appl. Phys. B 109, 177 (2012). CrossRef O. Traxer and E. X. Keller, "Thulium fiber laser: the new player for kidney stone treatment? A comparison with Holmium:YAG laser", World J. Urol., 1-12 (2019). CrossRef M. Michalska, et al. "Highly stable, efficient Tm-doped fiber laser—a potential scalpel for low invasive surgery", Laser Phys. Lett. 13, 115101 (2016). CrossRef R. L. Blackmon et al. "Thulium fiber laser ablation of kidney stones using a 50-μm-core silica optical fiber", Opt. Eng., 54, 011004 (2015). CrossRef A. Zajac et al. "Fibre lasers – conditioning constructional and technological", Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech. 58, 491 (2010). CrossRef C. Guo, D. Shen, J. Long, and F. Wang, "High-power and widely tunable Tm-doped fiber laser at 2 \mu m", Chin. Opt. Lett. 10, 091406 (2012). CrossRef F. Liu et al. "Tandem-pumped, tunable thulium-doped fiber laser in 2.1 μm wavelength region", Opt. Express 27, 8283 (2019). CrossRef H. Ahmad, M. Z. Samion, K. Thambiratnam, and M. Yasin, "Widely Tunable Dual-Wavelength Thulium-doped fiber laser Operating in 1.8-2.0 mm Region", Optik 179, 76 (2019). CrossRef N. M. Fried, "Thulium fiber laser lithotripsy: An in vitro analysis of stone fragmentation using a modulated 110‐watt Thulium fiber laser at 1.94 µm", Lasers Surg. Med. 37, 53 (2005). CrossRef N. M. Fried, "High‐power laser vaporization of the canine prostate using a 110 W Thulium fiber laser at 1.91 μm", Lasers Surg. Med. 36, 52 (2005). CrossRef E. Lippert et al. "Polymers Designed for Laser Applications-Fundamentals and Applications", Proc. SPIE 6397, P639704 (2006). CrossRef N. Dalloz et al. "High power Q-switched Tm3+, Ho3+-codoped 2μm fiber laser and application for direct OPO pumping", Proc. SPIE 10897, 108970J (2019). CrossRef N. J. Ramírez-Martinez, M. Nunez-Velazquez, A. A. Umnikov, and J. K. Sahu, "Highly efficient thulium-doped high-power laser fibers fabricated by MCVD", Opt. Express 27, 196 (2019). CrossRef T. Ehrenreich et al. "1-kW, All-Glass Tm:fiber Laser", Proc. SPIE 7580, 758016 (2010). DirectLink L. Shah et al. "Integrated Tm:fiber MOPA with polarized output and narrow linewidth with 100 W average power", Opt. Express 20, 20558 (2012). CrossRef H. Zhen-Yue, Y. Ping, X. Qi-Rong, L. Qiang, and G. Ma-Li, "227-W output all-fiberized Tm-doped fiber laser at 1908 nm", Chin. Phys. B 23, 104206 (2014). CrossRef

Tunable dual-wavelength operation of an all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser based on tunable fiber Bragg gratings

Tunable dual-wavelength emission of a Tm-doped fiber laser based on two fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is experimentally demonstrated. By using two FBGs with central wavelengths at 2069.30 and 2069.44 nm, stable dual-wavelength laser generation in the 2 μm wavelength region is achieved by adjusting the differential loss of the two wavelengths in the laser cavity. Strain applied on the FBG allows independent tuning of the simultaneously generated wavelengths with separation between the laser lines in a range from 0.54 to 9 nm. The laser has output power fluctuations less than 0.093% for an output power of 77.3 mW.

Tunable narrow linewidth all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser in a 2 µm-band using two Hi-Bi fiber optical loop mirrors

We propose an all-fiber Tm-doped fiber laser with a tunable and narrow laser line generated in a wavelength region of 2 µm. A single laser line with a linewidth below 0.05 nm, tunable in a wavelength range of 44.25 nm, is obtained. The laser linewidth and the discrete wavelength tuning range depend on the characteristics of the two fiber optical loop mirrors with high birefringence in the loop that forms the cavity. Dual-wavelength laser operation is also observed at tuning range limits with a wavelength separation of 47 nm. Alternate wavelength switching is also observed.

28 W CW linearly polarized single mode all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser operating at 1.95 μ m

An all-fiber type, CW, linearly polarized thulium-doped fiber laser is reported. Highly linear polarization was achieved by a special management of fiber Bragg gratings, which performs as the laser cavity reflectors. The laser generated 28 W signal output at 1949 nm with a slope efficiency of 47.3%. The polarization extinction ratio of the laser was measured to be around 20 dB. The beam quality of the laser was near diffraction-limited, with M2 of 1.1. The laser’s output features make it to be a potential light source for some important applications such as for pumping holmium-doped solid state lasers.

1 mJ nanosecond all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser at 2.05 μm.

A high energy all-fiber format nanosecond thulium-doped fiber laser at 2050 nm with a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration is presented in this paper. The seed oscillator is a linearly polarized gain-switched fiber laser pumped by a 1550 nm fiber laser. The output pulse of the seed has a polarization extinction ratio (PER) better than 16 dB with a maximal output power of 470 mW. After two-stage double- cladding fiber amplifiers, the average power at 40 kHz was boosted up to 40.5 W. The output pulse has a maximum pulse energy of 1 mJ with a pulse width of 100 ns, which corresponds to a peak power of 10 kW. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest single pulse energy ever reported for a nanosecond thulium-doped all-fiber MOPA system at 2050 nm.

A stable 2 μm passively Q-switched fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization evolution

A passively Q-switched thulium-doped fiber (TDF) laser based on the nonlinear polarization evolution technique was demonstrated with the central wavelength of 1898.4 nm. With the increasing pump power, the pulse repetition frequency of the Q-switched TDF laser from 87.6 to 110.1 kHz was achieved, while the corresponding pulse duration was changed from 1171 to 785.7 ns. The power instability of the TDF laser was measured to be about ±1.5% during 8 h. In addition, the mode-locked phenomenon was also observed in our all-fiber TDF laser by carefully adjusting the polarization controllers.

Wide wavelength selectable all-fiber thulium doped fiber laser between 1925 nm and 2200 nm

We demonstrate an all-fiber Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber laser operating at a wide selectable wavelength range by using different fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as wavelength selection elements. With a specifically designed high reflective (HR) FBG and the fiber end as an output coupler, the lasing in the range from 1975 nm to 2150 nm with slope efficiency of >30% can be achieved. By employing a low reflective (LR) FBG as the output coupler, the obtainable wavelengths were extended to the range between 1925 nm and 2200 nm which is the reported longest wavelength from the Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber lasers. Furthermore, by employing a FBG array in the laser cavity and inducing bend loss between adjacent FBGs in the array, six switchable lasing wavelengths were achieved.