Abstract
We report on a mid-infrared mode-locked fiber laser that uses an acousto-optic tunable filter to achieve frequency- shifted feedback pulse generation with frequency tuning over a 215 nm range. The laser operates on the 3.5 µm transition in erbium-doped zirconium fluoride-based fiber and utilizes the dual-wavelength pumping scheme. Stable, self-starting mode locking with a minimum pulse duration of 53 ps was measured using a two-photon absorption autocorrelator. The longest wavelength demonstrated was 3612 nm, and the maximum average powers achieved were 50 and 167 mW in fundamental and multi-pulse mode-locking regimes, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest wavelength rare-earth-doped mode-locked fiber laser demonstrated. The broad tunability promises potential uses for environmental sensing applications.
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@article{Henderson-Sapir2020, title = {Mode-locked and tunable fiber laser at the 3.5 µm band using frequency-shifted feedback}, author = {O. Henderson-Sapir and N. Bawden and M. R. Majewski and R. I. Woodward and D. J. Ottaway and S. D. Jackson}, url = {https://riwoodward.com/publication_files/hendersonsapir_2019_fsf.pdf}, doi = {10.1364/OL.45.000224}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, journal = {Optics Letters}, volume = {45}, number = {1}, pages = {224}, abstract = {We report on a mid-infrared mode-locked fiber laser that uses an acousto-optic tunable filter to achieve frequency- shifted feedback pulse generation with frequency tuning over a 215 nm range. The laser operates on the 3.5 µm transition in erbium-doped zirconium fluoride-based fiber and utilizes the dual-wavelength pumping scheme. Stable, self-starting mode locking with a minimum pulse duration of 53 ps was measured using a two-photon absorption autocorrelator. The longest wavelength demonstrated was 3612 nm, and the maximum average powers achieved were 50 and 167 mW in fundamental and multi-pulse mode-locking regimes, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest wavelength rare-earth-doped mode-locked fiber laser demonstrated. The broad tunability promises potential uses for environmental sensing applications.}, keywords = {fibre laser}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} }