Title

High Average Power Thulium-Doped Silica Fiber Lasers: Review Of Systems And Concepts

Keywords

2 m; Absorption; cross-relaxation; energy transfer processes; Fiber lasers; high power fiber lasers; in-band pumping; Laser excitation; Optical fiber amplifiers; Power lasers; Pump lasers; resonant pumping; Silicon compounds; tandem pumping; thulium-doped fiber lasers

Abstract

Thulium-doped fiber lasers (TDFLs) have had the second highest growth in average output power next to ytterbium-doped fiber lasers. This has been enabled by access to high power, high brightness $\sim$790 nm pump diodes in conjunction with the cross-relaxation process that improves efficiencies. While numerous high power TDFLs have been recently demonstrated, a 1 kW result from 2010 remains the highest output power system reported to date. This manuscript reviews these systems and the concepts behind high power TDFLs. The spectroscopic properties of Tm$^{3+}$-doped silica is first detailed, revealing complex processes and large variations amongst published measurements. Notable multi-100 W TDFLs are then summarized, with outputs ranging from 1908 - 2130 nm. Another route for power scaling is to in-band pump with another TDFL to enable >90% efficiencies. Both 790 nm and 1900 nm pumped TDFL architectures are theoretically modeled based on currently available systems. Hindered by high background losses and available pump sources, producing >4 kW like ytterbium-fiber systems is unlikely.

Publication Date

11-18-2017

Publication Title

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTQE.2017.2775964

Socpus ID

85035084943 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85035084943

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