Advances in 2-μm Tm-doped mode-locked fiber lasers

Over the last five years, the number of demonstrations of mode-locked thulium-doped fiber lasers with output wavelengths around 2 μm has increased rapidly. Mode-locked Tm-doped fiber lasers now provide pulse energies above 150 μJ and durations less than 30 fs (although not simultaneously). Applications for these sources are continuously being developed as they become commercially available and currently include medicine, environmental sensing, materials processing, and defense. A review of previously demonstrated mode-locked thulium-doped fiber lasers up to the state-of-the-art will be presented along with the aforementioned applications of these sources.     

Supercontinuum generation in non-silica fibers

The development of super continuum sources is driven by the requirements of a wide range of emerging applications. This paper points out how non-silica fibers are of benefit not only because their broad mid-IR transparency enables continuum generation in the 2–5 μm region but also since the high intrinsic nonlinearity of the glasses reduces the power-threshold for devices at wavelengths below 2 μm. For these glasses, the material zero-dispersion wavelength is typically shifted to long wavelengths compared to silica so dispersion tailoring is key to creating sources based on practical, near-IR, solid state pump lasers. We show how modeling work has produced fiber designs that provide flattened dispersion profiles with high nonlinearity coefficients and zero-dispersion wavelengths in the near-IR. Building on this flexibility, modeling of the pulse dynamics then demonstrates how coherent mid-IR supercontinuum sources could be developed. We also show the importance of the second zero-dispersion wavelength using bismuth fibers as an example. Nonlinear mode-coupling is shown to be a factor in larger core fibers for high-power applications. Demonstrations of supercontinuum in microstructured tellurite fibers, all-solid lead–silicate (SF57) fibers and in bismuth fibers and tapers are then reported to show what has been achieved experimentally using a range of materials and fiber geometries.     

Flatly broadened mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a cascade of thulium-doped silica fiber amplifiers

Single-mode, flatly broadened supercontinuum (SC) generated in a thulium two-stage fiber amplifier spanning nearly the mid-infrared band is reported. The output average power and 10 dB bandwidth of the obtained SC are over 2.3 W and 570 nm (from 1.95 μm to 2.52 μm), respectively. For wavelengths beyond 2.4 μm the output power was 495 mW constituting almost 21% of the total output power. Applying Tm-doped single-mode silica fibers as nonlinear and amplification media it was possible to extend the long wavelength cut-off to 2.7 μm.     

Theoretical analysis of characteristics for 2 μm Tm3+:Ho3+ co-doped silica fiber laser pumped by a 1550 nm fiber laser

We established a theoretical model of 2 μm Tm³⁺:Ho³⁺ co-doped silica fiber laser pumped by a 1550 nm fiber laser based on the rate-equation theory and performed the numerical simulation using Runge–Kutta algorithm and Newton–Raphson algorithm. The intracavity power distributions of both pump and laser of the Tm³⁺:Ho³⁺ co-doped silica fiber laser based on the Tm³⁺:Ho³⁺ co-doped silica fiber supplied by the National Optics Institute in Canada (NOIC) were obtained. The effects of the output reflectivity R₄(λ_s) at the output laser wavelength λ_s and the concentrations of Tm³⁺ and Ho³⁺ in the fiber on laser output performance were analyzed. In order to achieve a high laser output power, the optimal R₄(λ_s) of 0.13 was verified and the optimal Tm:Ho ratio of 1:2.4 was proposed. Finally, better output performance for the fiber laser based on the optimized Tm³⁺:Ho³⁺ co-doped silica fiber was obtained than the laser using the fiber supplied by the NOIC. This theoretical model and numerical simulation results will guide the fabrication of 2 μm Tm³⁺:Ho³⁺ co-doped all-fiber lasers pumped by 1600-nm-band (1500–1750 nm) Er³⁺:Yb³⁺ co-doped silica fiber lasers.     

Tailoring chromatic dispersion in chalcogenide–tellurite microstructured optical fiber

We report fabrication of a highly nonlinear hybrid microstructured optical fiber composed of chalcogenide glass core and tellurite glass cladding. The flattened chromatic dispersion can be achieved in such an optical fiber with near zero dispersion wavelength at telecommunication wavelengths λ = 1.35–1.7 μm, which cannot be achieved in chalcogenide glass optical fibers due to their high refractive index, i.e. n > 2.1. We demonstrate a hybrid 4-air hole chalcogenide–tellurite optical fiber (Δn = 0.25) with flattened chromatic dispersion around λ = 1.55 μm. In optimized 12-air hole optical fiber composed of the same glasses, the chromatic dispersion values were achieved between −20 and 32 ps/nm/km in a broad wavelength range of 1.5–3.8 μm providing the fiber with extremely high nonlinear coefficient 86,000 km⁻¹W⁻¹. Hybrid chalcogenide/tellurite fibers pumped with the near infrared lasers give good promise for broadband optical amplification, wavelength conversion, and supercontinuum generation in the near- to mid-infrared region.     

High-power mid-infrared supercontinuum sources: Current status and future perspectives

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) supercontinuum (SC) sources have recently gained much interest, as a key technology for such applications as spectral molecular fingerprinting, laser surgery, and infrared counter measures. However, one of the challenges facing this technology is how to obtain high power and broadband light covering a spectral band of at least 2–5 µm, especially with a very efficient output power distribution towards the mid-IR region. This directly affects their usage in the practical applications mentioned above. Typically, an SC is generated by pumping a piece of nonlinear fibre with high-intensity femtosecond pulses provided by mode-locked lasers. Although this approach can lead to wide continuum generation, the output power is limited only to the milliWatt level. Therefore, to achieve high-power SC light, other laser systems need to be employed as pump sources.This paper briefly reviews SC sources, restricted to those with an average output power of over 0.4 W and simultaneously with a long-wavelength edge of the continuum spectrum of over 2.4 µm. Firstly, the concepts of SC generation, including the nonlinear phenomena governing this process and the most relevant mid-IR fibre materials, are presented. Following this study, a review of the main results on SC generation in silica and soft-glass fibres, also including my experimental results, is presented. Emphasis is given to high-power SC generation with the use of different pump schemes, providing an efficient power distribution towards longer wavelengths. Some discussion and prospective predictions are proposed at the end of the paper.     

Modulation instability initiated high power all-fiber supercontinuum lasers and their applications

High average power, all-fiber integrated, broadband supercontinuum (SC) sources are demonstrated. Architecture for SC generation using amplified picosecond/nanosecond laser diode (LD) pulses followed by modulation instability (MI) induced pulse breakup is presented and used to demonstrate SC sources from the mid-IR to the visible wavelengths. In addition to the simplicity in implementation, this architecture allows scaling up of the SC average power by increasing the pulse repetition rate and the corresponding pump power, while keeping the peak power, and, hence, the spectral extent approximately constant. Using this process, we demonstrate >10 W in a mid-IR SC extending from ～0.8 to 4 μm, >5 W in a near IR SC extending from ～0.8 to 2.8 μm, and >0.7 W in a visible SC extending from ～0.45 to 1.2 μm. SC modulation capability is also demonstrated in a mid-IR SC laser with ～3.9 W in an SC extending from ～0.8 to 4.3 μm. The entire system and SC output in this case is modulated by a 500 Hz square wave at 50% duty cycle without any external chopping or modulation. We also explore the use of thulium doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) stages for mid-IR SC generation. In addition to the higher pump to signal conversion efficiency demonstrated in TDFAs compared to erbium/ytterbium doped fiber amplifier (EYFA), the shifting of the SC pump from ～1.5 to ～2 μm is pursued with an attempt to generate a longer extending SC into the mid-IR. We demonstrate ～2.5 times higher optical conversion efficiency from pump to SC generation in wavelengths beyond 3.8 μm in the TDFA versus the EYFA based SC systems. The TDFA SC spectrum extends from ～1.9 to 4.5 μm with ～2.6 W at 50% modulation with a 250 Hz square wave. A variety of applications in defense, health care and metrology are also demonstrated using the SC laser systems presented in this paper.     

All-fiber chalcogenide-based mid-infrared supercontinuum source

An all-fiber based supercontinuum source with emission covering the wavelength range of 1.9–4.8 μm is demonstrated. The laser source is based on a combination of silica commercial off-the shelf components and a chalcogenide-based nonlinear optical fiber. The system provides 10 dB spectral flatness from 2.0 to 4.6 μm, and ?20 dBm points from 1.9 to 4.8 μm. The output power is 565 mW but scalable by scaling the repetition rate. The limit on the long wavelength edge of the system is identified as an extrinsic absorption feature in the fiber used; confirming the system could be scaled to generated a broadband source even further in the infrared.     

Tm-doped mode-locked fiber lasers

Ultrashort pulse fiber lasers are increasingly used in various areas for scientific as well as industrial purposes. In contrast to ultrashort pulse lasers based on ytterbium- and erbium-doped fibers, the dispersion of silica fibers in the amplification band of thulium-doped fibers around 2 μm is typically anomalous, which has fundamental impact on the pulse propagation. In this paper, mode-locked thulium-doped fiber lasers operating in different pulse propagation schemes are presented. The transfer of various concepts into the 2 μm wavelength range, which have been successfully applied for pulse parameter scaling in the 1 and 1.5 μm spectral region, are discussed on the basis of experimental and numerical results.     

Design, performance, and limitations of fibers for cladding-pumped Raman lasers

In this paper, we present basic design rules for double-clad fibers that enable efficient 1st-Stokes operation of cladding-pumped fiber Raman devices. Limiting factors that we treat include unwanted 2nd-Stokes generation, material damage in the core, pump pulse dispersion, inner-cladding NA, background loss, pulse shape and pump noise. With a well-designed fiber, we calculate that a pump-to-signal brightness enhancement of over 2000 is possible, with certain pump parameters. On experimental work, we report a 100 W cladding-pumped fiber Raman laser at 1120 nm. Furthermore, a double-clad Raman fiber with large-mode area, ～40 μm core diameter, pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is used to generate Stokes pulses with 1 mJ energy.     

Eyesafe high peak power pulsed fiber lasers limited by fiber nonlinearity

We present design and performances of several eye-safe high peak power fiber lasers operating either around 1550 nm or 2000 nm. They share the limitations by nonlinear effects either Stimulated Brillouin Scattering for single frequency lasers or Kerr related effects for short pulse amplifiers. Performances above 1 kW peak power for single frequency lasers and 26 nJ for short pulse fiber lasers are reported. The influence of the saturation power of the fibers on the non-linearity is discussed and applied to a comparison between Erbium and Ytterbium co-doped fibers and Thulium doped fibers. The Brillouin gain properties in these fibers are also compared.     

A self-seeded tunable multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser with fiber bending scheme

A new tunable multiwavelength fiber laser is proposed. Such a laser contains a homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening media, i.e., a Fabry–Perót laser diode and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier, in the laser cavity. The Fabry–Perót laser diode is used to obtain tunable multiwavelength lasing. By adjusting the injection current of the Fabry–Perót laser diode, emission at a single wavelength, dual wavelengths, triple wavelengths or quadruple wavelengths are obtained. The lasing wavelength is tuned by bending a section of fiber in the laser cavity. The tuning ranges for single wavelength lasing and dual wavelength lasing are 20 nm and 10 nm, respectively, while those for triple wavelength lasing and quadruple wavelength lasing are 7 nm and 3 nm, respectively.     

Solid-state sensing tip for zinc ion with double parallel optical fibers embedded in fluorescent hydrogel

A tip-shaped zinc ion solid-state sensor is made by two parallel optical fibers embedded closely in a sensing hydrogel film. The film is made of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (poly HEMA)hydrogel mixed with the selective fluorescent probe meso-2,6-Dichlorophenyltripyrrinone (TPN-Cl₂) with weight ratio of 0.025 wt%. A 405 nm laser output is sent from one fiber and the 622 nm fluorescence of the doped hydrogel is collected by the second fiber. Each fiber diameter is 370 μm (core is 300 μm), whose sum is roughly the tip diameter. The 0.4 cm by 0.5 cm tip has real-time response for zinc ion concentration over 10⁻⁶ M, with marginal signal for 10⁻⁷ M. The tip is inserted inside an oyster and successfully detects the zinc ions, showing that the sensor works in complex body fluid and tolerates certain mechanical stress. To show the potential application for medicine, the sensing film is applied for primary neuronal cultures. We report for the first time zinc ions release at concentration levels 10⁻⁶–10⁻⁷ M to the medium under stress conditions of ischemia, inflammation, and intoxication. Furthermore, this correlates with the zinc levels detected by biochemical assay. Such sensing tip has great potential for biomedical monitoring ex vivo or in vivo.     

Improvement of 1.53 μm emission and energy transfer of Yb3+/Er3+ co-doped tellurite glass and fiber

To improve the 1.53 μm band emission of Er³⁺, the trivalent Yb³⁺ ions were introduced into the Er³⁺ single-doped tellurite glass with composition of TeO₂–ZnO–La₂O₃, a potential gain medium for Er³⁺-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). The improved effects were investigated from the measured 1.53 μm band and visible band spontaneous emission spectra together with the calculated 1.53 μm band stimulated emission (signal gain) spectra under the excitation of 975 nm laser diode (LD). It was found that Yb³⁺/Er³⁺ co-doping scheme can remarkably improve the visible band up-conversion and the 1.53 μm band fluorescence emission intensity, and meanwhile improves the 1.53 μm band signal gain to some extent, which were attributed to the result of the effective energy transfer of Yb³⁺:²F_5/2 + Er³⁺:⁴I_15/2 → Yb³⁺:²F_7/2 + Er³⁺:⁴I_11/2. The quantitative study of energy transfer mechanism was performed and microscopic energy transfer parameters between the doped rare-earth ions were determined. In addition, the spectroscopic properties of Er³⁺ were also investigated from the measured absorption spectrum according to the Judd–Ofelt theory, and the structure behavior and thermal stability of the prepared tellurite glass were analyzed based on the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) measurements, respectively.     

Stability comparison of two quadruple-wavelength switchable erbium-doped fiber lasers

An experimental stability comparison between two different switchable Erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFL) is carried out. Both topologies use fiber Bragg grating reflectors in order to select the emission wavelengths and two 2 × 4 optical switches. By adjusting the switches combinations, the lasers can be switched among the sixteen different wavelength lasing configurations. An output power and wavelength instability analysis with time for both topologies was performed. The experimental results confirm that the topology based on a serial configuration offers a better stability, efficiency and higher optical signal-to-noise ratios (OSNR) than the one based on a parallel configuration.     

Design on a highly birefringent and highly nonlinear tellurite ellipse core photonic crystal fiber with two zero dispersion wavelengths

In this paper, a new photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with two zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs) based on the tellurite ellipse core is designed. The air holes in the cladding region have a V-shape distribution, which can increase the birefringence. By adjusting the size of tellurite ellipse core, different birefringence and nonlinearity coefficient can be obtained, and the dispersion can also be tailored. When the long axis of the tellurite ellipse core is 0.5 μm and the short axis is 0.25 μm, the birefringence of 7.66 × 10⁻² and nonlinearity of 3400 W⁻¹ km⁻¹ around 1550 nm are obtained. This PCF structure provides a way to get the high birefringence and nonlinearity at the same time, which can find extensive applications in the optical communication and sensor system.     

Integration of organic semiconductor lasers and single-mode passive waveguides into a PMMA substrate

Efficiently combining active and passive elements in integrated optics is a key ingredient for their successful employment. Here, we present the fabrication of an optimized PMMA substrate structure for improved coupling of laser light generated by organic semiconductor distributed feedback lasers into single-mode deep ultraviolet induced waveguides. For production, electron beam lithography on an oxidized silicon wafer and subsequent reactive ion etching is used to form the feedback grating of the laser. Afterwards, an aligned second electron beam lithography step on top of the grating allows the fabrication of a topographical step of 1.67 μm on the edges of the grating area. Metal is evaporated on this resulting master structure serving as a plating base for electroforming of a Ni tool. The tool is then used for hot embossing of the structure into PMMA bulk material. On a length of 500 μm the imprinted grating lines, having a period of 200 nm, are 100 nm wide and 60 nm high. Aligned deep ultraviolet exposure to induce a passive single- or multi-mode waveguide and co-evaporation of the active material Alq₃:DCM finish the coupling region. This structure optimizes the coupling of laser light generated in the laser structure into the passive waveguide. In combination with microfluidic channels, the laser light can be considered for sensing applications on a PMMA lab-on-chip system.     

Novel field installable optical fiber splice and connector for optical access networks

We have developed two types of field installable connection techniques. One is mechanical splicing, which is used to connect coated optical fibers without the need for stripping or cleaning procedures. The other is a field assembly connection technique, which employs a new type of field installable connector that makes it possible to realize a physical contact connection with chamfer grinding. Mechanical splicing is achieved by precisely aligning and directly connecting coated fibers with a capillary. The assembled splice is installed with 1.3-μm single-mode fibers that have an 80-μm cladding and a 125-μm coating and they exhibit good optical performance with a low average insertion loss of 0.2 dB. Connection is achieved with our developed field installable connector by using a chamfered fiber endface and the compression force of the buckled fiber. The assembled connectors achieve physical contact with the chamfered fiber endface, which provides good optical performance with a low insertion loss of 0.11 dB.     

Low-coherence interferometric fiber sensor with improved resolution using stepper motor assisted optical ruler

Low-coherence interferometric sensing is typically used to detect phase changes without simultaneous optical ruler calibration in order to by-pass light intensity fluctuations and the periodic nature of the interferometric signal. An interferogram from a two-staged optical low-coherence Mach–Zehnder interferometer is proposed to double the sensitivity improvement for fiber strain sensing. A 1310-nm wavelength distributed feedback laser implemented in an optical ruler achieved 655-nm resolved characterization from its high-coherence interferogram, which could further be enhanced to an average of 18.9 nm using a stepper motor assisted optical ruler. A 2.7-nε high strain resolution was then demonstrated on a 3-m long fiber sensing arm in a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The relative movement distances between the interferograms were utilized to experimentally show the strain and force sensitivity as 6.8 μm/με and 8.5 μm/mN, respectively.     

Tuning nonlinear susceptibility in strained AlGaAs/InGaAs quantum cascade lasers

This paper explores enhancement of nonlinear susceptibility in strained quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) that lead to unique intracavity characteristics that include frequency mixing producing both fundamental and higher order modes that propagate freely within a GaAs matrix. Doing so provides a QCL cavity design with emission near the 3.5 μm range, a region suitable for applications within the 3–5 μm atmospheric transmission window. In this study, a self-consistent Schrodinger–Poisson solver was employed to analyze the effects of strain within an AlGaAs/InGaAs active region between AlGaAs/GaAs injectors on a [1 1 1] GaAs matrix for the purpose of enhancing nonlinear susceptibility. Strain relief available through the use of [1 1 1] GaAs allows increased indium composition in the active region and results in observation of second-harmonics below the 5 μm range with tunable optical dipole moments and oscillator strengths. Results demonstrate the feasibility of strained AlGaAs/InGaAs devices on GaAs for producing higher order harmonics that lay below the 4 μm spectral limit.