High-Power Single-Frequency Thulium-Doped Fiber DBR Laser at 1943 nm

• Published in: IEEE photonics technology letters Vol. 23; no. 7; pp. 417 - 419
• Main Authors: Zhang, Z, Boyland, A J, Sahu, J K, Clarkson, W A, Ibsen, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.04.2011; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Amplifiers; Bragg reflectors; Conferences; DBR lasers; Distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers; Distributed Bragg reflectors; Fiber lasers; Fiber optics; Fibers; infrared lasers; Laser excitation; Laser modes; Lasers; Optical fiber amplifiers; Optical fiber polarization; Optical fibers; Pump lasers; Pumps; single-frequency lasers
• ISSN: 1041-1135; 1941-0174
• DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2011.2106491

We report on a high-power single-frequency mode-hop-free fiber distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser fabricated from Tm-doped photosensitive alumino-silicate fiber and in-band pumped by an Er/Yb fiber laser at 1565 nm. The fiber DBR laser yielded up to 580 mW of single-frequency single-ended output at 1943 nm for ~ 5 W of absorbed pump power. Further scaling of the DBR laser output power was achieved with the aid of a simple Tm-doped fiber amplifier stage spliced directly to the DBR fiber without the need of an optical isolator. The maximum output power from the DBR laser and fiber amplifier was 2.9 W for a combined absorbed pump power of 9 W. The merits of this DBR laser architecture compared to conventional DBR and distributed-feedback laser configurations are discussed.