Experimental Investigation of Mid-Infrared Laser Action From Dy³⁺ Doped Fluorozirconate Fiber

Abstract

Abstract-Efficient continuous-wave laser operation at 2.982 µm is achieved with a Dy 3 :fluoride fiber pumped using an inhouse-built 1.1 µm ytterbium (III) fiber laser. The laser output power reached is 554 mW, with a maximum slope efficiency of 18% with respect to the launched pump power. Additionally, the measured spontaneous luminescence within the visible wavelength range, under 1.1 µm pumping, is presented and attributed to excited state absorption (ESA). The influence of the ESA on the laser performance is discussed. The results confirm that high output powers from Dy: fluoride fiber laser pumped at 1.1 µm are possible. Index Terms-Mid infrared fiber laser, Dysprosium doped glass, Mid infrared sources

Gain-switched Dy3+:ZBLAN fiber laser operating around 3 μm

“…A 12% slope efficiency and 35 mW maximum output power were obtained for a cavity with 98.5%-50% facet reflectivities. The measured slope efficiency of the 12% is slightly lower than that previously reported for a similar laser cavity operating in a CW regime (which had a slope efficiency of 18%) [12]. Figure 6 presents the emission spectrum generated by the gain-switched laser for a launched pump power of 534 mW and a 0.9 m fiber length.…”

“…The launching efficiency obtained was around 55%-60%. A similar cavity set-up for continuous-wave (CW) operation was investigated in [12].…”

“…The highest output power for CW operation of Dy 3+ :ZBLAN fiber lasers has so far reached 10 W at 3.24 μm under Er 3+ :ZBLAN pumping at 2.8 μm with a slope efficiency of 58% [11]. Under 1.1 μm pumping, a Dy 3+ -doped ZBLAN cavity producing more than 554 mW at 2.98 μm with a slope efficiency of 18% was also demonstrated [12]. Ytterbium (III) ion doped fiber lasers operating at 1.1 μm are commercially available, cost-effective sources.…”

Numerical Simulation of Mid-Infrared Optical Frequency Comb Generation in Chalcogenide As2S3 Microbubble Resonators

“…Broadband mid-infrared light sources have many applications in biomedicine, defense, environment monitoring, and sensing. There are several concepts of mid-infrared coherent optical sources, such as solid-state lasers, optical parametric oscillators and amplifiers, semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers, and laser systems based on frequency conversion in different nonlinear media (see, for example, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]). Mid-infrared optical frequency comb generation in whispering gallery mode (WGM) microresonators also attracts significant interest.…”

10-W-level monolithic dysprosium-doped fiber laser at 324 μm

“…However, due to the lack of pumping sources around 1.7 μm and the relatively poor efficiency of the 1.1 and 1.3 μm pump schemes resulting from the high quantum defect and strong excited-state absorption processes [15], Dy-doped fiber lasers have not been studied as much as Ho-and Er-doped laser media. Under 1.1 μm pumping, a Dy-doped ZBLAN cavity producing more than 500 mW at 2.98 μm with an efficiency of 18% was recently demonstrated [16]. In another demonstra-tion, a cavity pumped around 1.7 μm exhibited a broad tuning range of ~600 nm (2.81 to 3.38 μm), but with a maximum output power limited to 170 mW [14].…”