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Zhang X J, Li W W, Li J, Xu H Y, Cai Z P et al. Mid-infrared all-fiber gain-switched pulsed laser at 3 μm. Opto-Electron Adv 3, 190032 (2020). doi: 10.29026/oea.2020.190032
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Original Article Open Access
Mid-infrared all-fiber gain-switched pulsed laser at 3 μm
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Abstract
Mid-infrared (MIR) fiber pulsed lasers are of tremendous application interest in eye-safe LIDAR, spectroscopy, chemical detection and medicine. So far, these MIR lasers largely required bulk optical elements, complex free-space light alignment and large footprint, precluding compact all-fiber structure. Here, we proposed and demonstrated an all-fiberized structured gain-switched Ho3+-doped ZBLAN fiber laser operating around 2.9 μm. A home-made 1146 nm Raman fiber pulsed laser was utilized to pump highly concentrated single-cladding Ho3+-doped ZBLAN fiber with different lengths of 2 m or 0.25 m. A home-made MIR fiber mirror and a perpendicular-polished ZBLAN fiber end construct the all-fiberized MIR cavity. Stable gain-switched multiple states with a sub-pulse number tuned from 1 to 8 were observed. The effects of gain fiber length, pump power, pump repetition rate and output coupling ratio on performance of gain-switched pulses were further investigated in detail. The shortest pulse duration of 283 ns was attained with 10 kHz repetition rate. The pulsed laser, centered at 2.92 μm, had a maximum average output power of 54.2 mW and a slope efficiency of 10.12%. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time to demonstrate a mid-infrared gain-switched Ho3+:ZBLAN fiber laser with compact all-fiber structure.-
Keywords:
- fiber laser /
- mid-infrared /
- gain-switching
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References
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Zhang X J, Li W W, Li J, Xu H Y, Cai Z P et al. Mid-infrared all-fiber gain-switched pulsed laser at 3 μm. Opto-Electron Adv 3, 190032 (2020). doi: 10.29026/oea.2020.190032
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Figure 1.
(a) The experiment device diagram of the compact 3 μm gain-switched laser with an all-fiberized structure. Inset: actual photo of the fiber end-facet mirror M. (b) Measured transmission optical spectrum of the M.
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Figure 2.
Under various pump powers and a fixed 20 kHz repetition rate, measured (a) stable gain-switched multi-pulse trains, (b) typical output optical spectra, (c) broadband RF output spectra, and (d) RF spectra at the fundamental frequency peak from the 2 m long fiber laser.
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Figure 3.
Temporal pump and gain-switched multi-pulses in one period produced by 2 m long fiber laser under different pump powers of (a) 79 mW, (b) 100 mW, (c) 238 mW, (d) 286 mW, (e) 342 mW, (f) 429 mW, (g) 504 mW, (h) 597 mW.
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Figure 4.
Measured (a) stable gain-switched multi-pulse trains and (b) broadband RF output spectrums. (c) Optical spectrums at a 20 kHz pump repetition rate from the 0.25 m long fiber laser. (d) The relationships between average output power and pump power of two kinds of cavities.
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Figure 5.
Output characteristics from the 2 m long cavity. Stable gain-switched single-pulse trains at (a) "1-1" state and (b) "2-1" state was generated with increased pump repetition rate. (c) The required pump power and pulse energy threshold varied with the pump repetition rate at different temporal states, respectively. (d) Output optical spectrums at different laser repetition rates, where dash lines represent "2-1" state and solid lines represent "1-1" state.
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Figure 6.
Performance characteristics from the 0.25 m long cavity.
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Figure 7.
Output characteristics obtained from 2 m and 0.25 m long cavities, respectively.
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Figure 8.
Output single pulse waveforms with or without the output coupler for different fiber lengths and repetition rates of (a) 2 m, 20 kHz, (b) 2 m, 16 kHz, (c) 0.25 m, 20 kHz, (d) 0.25 m, 10 kHz.
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Figure 9.
Optical spectrums measured from the MIR gain-switched laser for different fiber lengths and pump powers of (a) 2 m, 110 mW, (b) 0.25 m, 670 mW, under 20 kHz pump repetition rate.
