• Alam, S.-U.
• Selvas, R.
• Grudinin, A. B.
• Nilsson, Johan
• Turner, P. W.
• Sahu, Jayanta Kumar
• Clarkson, W. A.

Abstract

We describe the design and performance of cladding-pumped silica fiber lasers with high continuous-wave output powers and broad wavelength tunability in the 1, 1.5, and 2 µm spectral ranges. An ytterbium-doped fiber laser was tuned via wavelength dependent feedback provided by an external cavity containing a diffraction grating from 1027 to 1105 nm at multi-watt power levels. Similarly, high output power and wide wavelength tunability from 1540 to 1600 nm and from 1860 to 2090 nm at multi-watt output power levels has been achieved in Er-Yb co-doped and Tm-doped silica fiber lasers, respectively. A neodymium doped fiber laser was tuned from 1057 to 1118 nm at a lower power level. Limiting factors and the prospects for further improvements in performance are considered.

Topics

• Neodymium
• Ytterbium