Wang Y, Zhang J, Wen J, Qiu B, Qiu J, Yang Z, Wei X, Dong G. Ultrafast fiber laser at 0.9 µm with a gigahertz fundamental repetition rate by a high gain Nd
3+-doped phosphate glass fiber.
OPTICS EXPRESS 2022;
30:30870-30880. [PMID:
36242183 DOI:
10.1364/oe.468607]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Fiber lasers, owing to the advantages of excellent beam quality and unique robustness, play a crucial role in lots of fields in modern society. Developing optical glass fibers with superior performance is of fundamental importance for wide applications of fiber lasers. Here, a new Nd3+-doped phosphate single-mode fiber that enables a high gain at 0.9 µm is designed and fabricated. Compared to previous Nd3+-doped silica fibers, the developed phosphate fiber exhibits a significant gain promotion, up to 2.7 dB cm-1 at 915 nm. Configuring in a continuous-wave fiber laser, this phosphate fiber can provide a slope efficiency of 11.2% in a length of only 4.5 cm, about 6 times higher than that of Nd3+-doped silica fiber. To showcase its uniqueness, an ultrafast fiber laser with ultrashort cavity is constructed, such that an ultrashort pulse train with a fundamental repetition rate of up to 1.2 GHz is successfully generated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest fundamental repetition rate for mode-locked fiber lasers at this wavelength range - two orders of magnitude higher than that of prior works. These results indicate that this Nd3+-doped phosphate fiber is an effective gain medium for fiber amplifiers and lasers at 0.9 µm, and it is promising for two-photon biophotonics that requires long-term operation with low phototoxicity.
Collapse