Wavelength-tunable passively mode-locked mid-infrared Er3+-doped ZBLAN fiber laser

Abstract

A passively mode-locked Er3+-doped ZBLAN fiber laser around 3 μm with a wide wavelength tuning range is proposed and demonstrated. The laser cavity was comprised of a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror and a blazed grating to provide a wavelength tunable feedback. The central wavelength of the mode-locked fiber laser can be continuously tuned from 2710 to 2820 nm. The pulse train had a maximum average power of higher than 203 mW, a repetition rate of 28.9 MHz and a pulse duration of 6.4 ps, yielding a peak power of exceeding 1.1 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a wavelength-tunable passively mode-locked mid-infrared fiber laser at 3 μm.

A Review of Mid-Infrared Supercontinuum Generation in Chalcogenide Glass Fibers

“…On the other hand, MIR lasers can usually be obtained from non-silica fibers doped with rare-earth ions. By doping Er 3+ , Ho 3+ , Pr 3+ , or Dy 3+ ions into fluoride fibers, laser transitions of around 3.0 [175][176][177][178]…”

“…On the other hand, MIR lasers can usually be obtained from non-silica fibers doped with rare-earth ions. By doping Er 3+ , Ho 3+ , Pr 3+ , or Dy 3+ ions into fluoride fibers, laser transitions of around 3.0 [175][176][177][178], 3.5 [179] and 3.9 µm [180] have been realized. Hudson et al [181] recently achieved an SC generation (1.8-9.5 µm) with an average power of more than 30 mW by pumping an As 2 Se 3 taper with a 4-m-long Ho 3+ / Pr 3+ co-doped ZBLAN fiber laser which emitted a stable fs pulse train of 2874 nm, with an average power of 140 mW, at a repetition rate of 42 MHz.…”

In-fiber measurement of the erbium-doped ZBLAN 4I13/2 state energy transfer parameter

“…Numerical models choose W11 numbers in the weakly interacting regime [7,15,16], but likely due to the high fiber-to-fiber variability of parameters [12] measuring specific energy transfer parameters has not been attempted. Energy transfer still appears as a problem during laser development [17,18], however, and there remains a need for more accurate parameters to aid new laser design.…”

Numerical Study on the Soliton Mode-Locking of the Er3+-Doped Fluoride Fiber Laser at ~3 μm with Nonlinear Polarization Rotation

“…These techniques generally can be classified to two types. The first one is material saturable absorber (SA)-based mode-locking such as semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) [6][7][8], graphene [9], and some graphene-like 2D nonlinear materials [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Nevertheless, numerous 2D material SAs are limited by the inherent deficiencies such as relatively low damage threshold and short life-time; they are hardly a guarantee of long-term operation especially when the mode-locked lasers are operated at high pulse energy.…”