Development Progress of 3–5 μm Mid-Infrared Lasers: OPO, Solid-State and Fiber Laser

Abstract

A 3–5 μm mid-infrared band is a good window for atmospheric transmission. It has the advantages of high contrast and strong penetration under high humidity conditions. Therefore, it has important applications in the fields of laser medicine, laser radar, environmental monitoring, remote sensing, molecular spectroscopy, industrial processing, space communication and photoelectric confrontation. In this paper, the application background of mid-infrared laser is summarized. The ways to realize mid-infrared laser output are described by optical parametric oscillation, mid-infrared solid-state laser doped with different active ions and fiber laser doped with different rare earth ions. The advantages and disadvantages of various mid-infrared lasers are briefly described. The technical approaches, schemes and research status of mid-infrared lasers are introduced.

Dual fiber laser pumped tunable mid-infrared laser source with high speed modulation

“…There are multiple technologies for obtaining MWIR laser emission. [1], [2] Direct emission from intraband cascade lasers can span the 3 to 3.5 µm range but only with a few milliwatts of power. Quantum cascade lasers can be used for wavelengths above 3.8 µm with average power of hundreds of milliwatts.Nonlinear conversion devices can utilize periodically poled crystals to convert established sources in the near-IR into the 2.5 to 4.2 µm range.…”

Advances and Challenges of Ultrafast Fiber Lasers in 2–4 µm Mid‐Infrared Spectral Regions

“…To generate laser pulses in 2-4 μm region, possible technical approaches include quantum cascade lasers, [3] solid-state lasers, [4] optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers, [5] and fiber lasers. [6] Quantum cascade lasers are compact and can output nanosecond pulses in mid-IR, but the inherent speed of electronics limits the generation of femtosecond pulses. [7] Mid-IR solid-state lasers, realized by doping transition metals into crystals, have advantages in outputting high-power pulses; however, the associated high temperatures may reduce the luminescence lifetime of the doped crystals.…”

“…[25] Recently, significant progress has been made toward 2-4 μm mid-IR ultrafast fiber lasers with various SAs and continuously improved fiber components. Although some reports on mid-IR fiber lasers have been conducted by different research groups, [6,10] active or passive mode-locking technologies for pulse generation are rarely reviewed, especially for the 2-4 μm wavelength range. Here, we provide a detailed summary of mid-IR ultrafast fiber laser development over the last decade based on various mode-locking technologies.…”

Development of a 2 μm Solid-State Laser for Lidar in the Past Decade

“…Therefore, it has great value in the fields of lidar, space communication, biomedicine, gas detection, and material processing [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Moreover, the 2 µm band can be used as the pump source of the optical parametric oscillator to achieve mid-infrared laser output (3~5 µm, 8~12 µm), which is beneficial for military infrared countermeasures, laser guidance, laser spectroscopy, and other fields [8][9][10][11][12]. In biomedicine, the water absorption coefficient of the 2 µm laser is 600 cm −1 , which is six orders of magnitude higher than that of visible light [13].…”