High power 1726nm operation of a thulium fiber laser pumped in-band by an erbium-only fiber laser
High power 1726nm operation of a thulium fiber laser pumped in-band by an erbium-only fiber laser
There are a number of spectral features around 1700 nm which are very attractive to the laser community. Strong C-H bond absorption and moderate water absorption lend this region to many applications such as polymer processing and laser surgery. Despite being a growing area of interest, development of high-power, laser sources in this region is quite challenging. Here we present preliminary results of in-band pumping a thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) with erbium-only doped fiber laser (EDFL) to generate 1700 nm.
Erbium-only was chosen to avoid the power scaling limitations of co-doping with ytterbium. Parasitic lasing on the ytterbium band at 1030 nm results in efficiency roll-off and self-pulsing. Because of this, single-mode Er/Yb laser systems are generally limited to moderate powers of ~20W and reliability remains an issue.
An in-house double-clad large mode-area fiber, with a fundamental mode-field diameter of 20 μm, was cladding pumped at 975 nm. Maximum power at 90 W launched was 31 W and the slope efficiency was 44.2% (35.4%) with respect to absorbed (launched) pump power. Suitability for high-brightness core pumping of a TDFL was confirmed with an M2 measurement of 1.1±0.1.
For 1700nm generation, the 1580nm pump light was free-space coupled into an in-house TDF (0.2 wt.% dopant concentration). For a maximum launched power of 23W, 15W of 1726nm output was generated with a slope efficiency of 67.1% (64.7%) with respect to absorbed (launched). To the author’s best knowledge, this is the highest recorded power in this wavelength region from a TDFL at the time of writing.
Fibre, Fibre Laser, Erbium, Thulium, erbium-doped fiber laser, Thulium fiber, continuous wave lasers, rare earth (re) metals
Burns, Mark
7f7ca346-f31a-46cf-a848-acb4bcae18b9
Shardlow, Peter
9ca17301-8ae7-4307-8bb9-371df461520c
Barua, Pranabesh
ab53bdd9-e00f-46b0-b4f4-5ab6534fe8a6
Jefferson-Brain, Thomas, Lewis
8bce2a02-37a4-4277-a8cb-0c40bde57837
Sahu, Jayanta
009f5fb3-6555-411a-9a0c-9a1b5a29ceb2
Clarkson, W.A.
3b060f63-a303-4fa5-ad50-95f166df1ba2
13 March 2019
Burns, Mark
7f7ca346-f31a-46cf-a848-acb4bcae18b9
Shardlow, Peter
9ca17301-8ae7-4307-8bb9-371df461520c
Barua, Pranabesh
ab53bdd9-e00f-46b0-b4f4-5ab6534fe8a6
Jefferson-Brain, Thomas, Lewis
8bce2a02-37a4-4277-a8cb-0c40bde57837
Sahu, Jayanta
009f5fb3-6555-411a-9a0c-9a1b5a29ceb2
Clarkson, W.A.
3b060f63-a303-4fa5-ad50-95f166df1ba2
Burns, Mark, Shardlow, Peter, Barua, Pranabesh, Jefferson-Brain, Thomas, Lewis, Sahu, Jayanta and Clarkson, W.A.
(2019)
High power 1726nm operation of a thulium fiber laser pumped in-band by an erbium-only fiber laser.
In Proceedings Volume 10897, Fiber Lasers XVI: Technology and Systems.
SPIE.
1 pp
.
(doi:10.1117/12.2510354).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
There are a number of spectral features around 1700 nm which are very attractive to the laser community. Strong C-H bond absorption and moderate water absorption lend this region to many applications such as polymer processing and laser surgery. Despite being a growing area of interest, development of high-power, laser sources in this region is quite challenging. Here we present preliminary results of in-band pumping a thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) with erbium-only doped fiber laser (EDFL) to generate 1700 nm.
Erbium-only was chosen to avoid the power scaling limitations of co-doping with ytterbium. Parasitic lasing on the ytterbium band at 1030 nm results in efficiency roll-off and self-pulsing. Because of this, single-mode Er/Yb laser systems are generally limited to moderate powers of ~20W and reliability remains an issue.
An in-house double-clad large mode-area fiber, with a fundamental mode-field diameter of 20 μm, was cladding pumped at 975 nm. Maximum power at 90 W launched was 31 W and the slope efficiency was 44.2% (35.4%) with respect to absorbed (launched) pump power. Suitability for high-brightness core pumping of a TDFL was confirmed with an M2 measurement of 1.1±0.1.
For 1700nm generation, the 1580nm pump light was free-space coupled into an in-house TDF (0.2 wt.% dopant concentration). For a maximum launched power of 23W, 15W of 1726nm output was generated with a slope efficiency of 67.1% (64.7%) with respect to absorbed (launched). To the author’s best knowledge, this is the highest recorded power in this wavelength region from a TDFL at the time of writing.
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 1 January 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 March 2019
Published date: 13 March 2019
Venue - Dates:
Fiber Lasers XVI: Technology and Systems, The Moscone Center, San Francisco, United States, 2019-02-04 - 2019-02-07
Keywords:
Fibre, Fibre Laser, Erbium, Thulium, erbium-doped fiber laser, Thulium fiber, continuous wave lasers, rare earth (re) metals
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 428937
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/428937
ISSN: 0277-786X
PURE UUID: 72d4d352-5c46-4093-80d7-f50198a57db9
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 15 Mar 2019 17:30
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:50
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