The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

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
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
0277-786X
SPIE
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
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.

Text
Abstract - Other
Download (13kB)

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
ORCID for Mark Burns: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2039-6025
ORCID for Peter Shardlow: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0459-0581
ORCID for Thomas, Lewis Jefferson-Brain: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8838-5640
ORCID for Jayanta Sahu: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3560-6152

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 15 Mar 2019 17:30
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:50

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Mark Burns ORCID iD
Author: Peter Shardlow ORCID iD
Author: Pranabesh Barua
Author: Thomas, Lewis Jefferson-Brain ORCID iD
Author: Jayanta Sahu ORCID iD
Author: W.A. Clarkson

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×