Sensitive detection of CO2 implementing tunable thulium-doped all-fiber laser

Self-organized structures of bound states in a 2 μm dispersion-managed mode-locked fiber laser

We report on the experimental generation of various self-organized structures of bound states in a near zero-dispersion mode-locked fiber laser. When the pump power is fixed at 492 mW, appropriately adjusting polarization controllers, the switching of the cavity feedback results in the evolution from the single pulse to the dispersion-managed soliton (i.e., stretched-pulse) pair. With the increase of pump power, bound states composed of more than two pulses can also be observed. Our results of the self-organized structures might enlarge the data-carrying capacity of current fiber-optical communication systems and benefit the investigation of nonlinear dynamics of bound states in fiber lasers at 2 μm.

Broad-range self-sweeping single-frequency linearly polarized Tm-doped fiber laser

We experimentally demonstrate a linearly polarized Tm-doped fiber laser with sweeping range up to 26 nm in the region of 1.92 μm. The main feature of the laser is generation of periodic microsecond pulses in which each contains practically only single longitudinal mode radiation. The laser frequency changes from pulse to pulse with high linearity by one intermode beating frequency of the laser ∼8  MHz. The developed source is applied to measure spectrum of water absorption lines in air.

Dual-band Tm3+-doped tellurite fiber amplifier and laser at 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm

Ultrabroadband amplification and two-color CW lasing simultaneously near 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm in a Tm³⁺-doped tellurite fiber were demonstrated experimentally, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. A low-loss Tm³⁺-doped core fiber from TeO₂–ZnO–La₂O₃–Na₂O glasses stable against crystallization was produced by a special technique, providing a low concentration of hydroxyl groups. Supercontinuum from a highly GeO₂ doped silica fiber pumped by an Er fiber laser system was used as a seed for an amplifier. A maximum gain of 30 dB and 7 dB was measured at 1.9 μm and 2.3 μm, respectively. We report detailed experimental and theoretical studies, which are in a very good agreement, of laser amplification and generation in the manufactured fiber with carefully measured and calculated parameters. A quantitatively verified numerical model was used to predict power scalability at 2.3 μm in schemes with optimized parameters at increased pump power. The presented results show that a high-quality tellurite fiber is a promising candidate for developing lasers in the 2.3 μm atmospheric window which are particularly relevant for applications in gas sensing, eye-safe laser radars, breath analysis, remote sensing and stand-off trace gas detection.

Abrupt-tapered fiber filter arrangement for a switchable multi-wavelength and tunable Tm-doped fiber laser

A switchable and tunable multi-wavelength Tm-doped fiber laser is successfully demonstrated using a filter constructed with two tapered fiber elements in the cavity. The proposed system design uses a low-cost simple filter that allows stable dual, triple, quadruple, and quintuple-wavelength emission operation in the region around 1.9 μm. In the dual wavelength regime, the laser is capable of independently tuning each wavelength. For switching and tuning, a curvature is applied to the tapered fibers.

Pulse dynamics of dual-wavelength dissipative soliton resonances and domain wall solitons in a Tm fiber laser with fiber-based Lyot filter

We report on the first demonstration of dual-wavelength square-wave pulses in a thulium-doped fiber laser. Under appropriate cavity parameters, dual-wavelength dissipative soliton resonances (DSRs) and domain wall solitons (DWSs) are successively obtained. Meanwhile, dark pulses generation is achieved at the dual-wavelength DWSs region due to the overlap of the two domain wall pulses. The fiber-based Lyot filter, conducted by inserting PMF between an in-line PBS and a PD-ISO, facilitates the generation of dual-wavelength operation. The polarization-resolved investigation suggests that the cross coupling between two orthogonal polarization components in the high nonlinear fiber plays an important role in the square-wave pulses formation. The investigation may be helpful for further understanding the square-wave pulse formation and has potential in application filed of multi-wavelength pulsed fiber lasers.

Effect of erbium ion concentration on structural and luminescence properties of lead borosilicate glasses for fiber amplifiers

This investigation reports, the effect of the concentration of erbium and lead ions on the physical, structural and optical properties of lead borosilicate glasses. These glasses were synthesized by the melt quench method. In the synthesis, the concentration of the erbium (Er³⁺ ) ion was varied in the order of 0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mol% and lead (Pb²⁺ ) ion was varied in the order of 30, 29.9, 29.5, 29 and 28 mol%. The glasses were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy. From XRD, the amorphous nature of lead borosilicate glasses was confirmed. The functional groups which were present in the glasses have been identified by analyzing the FT-IR spectrum. From the absorption spectra, the oscillator strengths as well as the Judd-Ofelt (JO) intensity parameters were determined and compared with other hosts. The JO intensity parameters were further used to calculate certain radiative properties for the excited luminescent levels of Er³⁺ ion. From emission spectra, full width at half maxima (FWHM), stimulated emission cross-sections (σ_e ) and certain lasing parameters were evaluated and compared with reference host glasses. The lifetimes of ⁴ I_13/2 excited level of Er³⁺ ion have also been recorded and analyzed. The calculated and experimental lifetimes were compared in terms of quantum efficiencies. From the photoluminescence analysis, the erbium doped lead borosilicate glasses well suited for optical fiber amplifiers are discussed.

100 W dissipative soliton resonances from a thulium-doped double-clad all-fiber-format MOPA system

In this paper, we first achieve nanosecond-scale dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) generation in a thulium-doped double-clad fiber (TDF) laser with all-anomalous-dispersion regime, and also first scale the average power up to 100.4 W by employing only two stage TDF amplifiers, corresponding to gains of 19.3 and 14.4 dB, respectively. It is noted that both the fiber laser oscillator and the amplification system employ double-clad fiber as the gain medium for utilizing the advantages in high-gain-availability, high-power-handling and good-mode-quality-maintaining. DSR mode-locking of the TDF oscillator is realized by using a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM), which exhibits all-fiber-format, high nonlinear and passive saturable absorption properties. The TDF oscillator can deliver rectangular-shape pulses with duration ranging from ~3.74 to ~72.19 ns while maintaining a nearly equal output peak power level of ~0.56 W, namely peak power clamping (PPC) effect. Comparatively, the two stage amplifiers can scale the seeding pulses to similar average power levels, but to dramatically different peak powers ranging from ~0.94 to ~18.1 kW depending on the durations. Our TDF master-oscillator-power-amplifier (MOPA) system can provide a high power 2-μm band all-fiber-format laser source both tunable in pulse duration and peak power.

Low-threshold lasing at 1975 nm in thulium-doped tellurite glass microspheres

Thulium-doped (Tm-doped) tellurite glass microspheres are used as laser media. Emission lines at wavelengths near 1975 nm are observed. The onset of laser emission is achieved with 8.6 and 30 μW of coupled pump power and injected pump power, respectively, at a wavelength of 1554 nm. To the authors' knowledge, these are the lowest laser threshold values recorded for a Tm-doped tellurite glass microcavity. Intrinsic Q-factors above 10(6) for the undoped tellurite glass microspheres assert the quality of the fabrication processes. An optical intrinsic Q-factor comparison between Tm-doped tellurite and undoped tellurite microspheres shows that ion absorption is the dominant loss source at pump wavelengths. Lower lasing threshold powers and higher power conversion are observed at longer pump wavelengths in agreement with theoretical models.