title: 20 W single-mode Yb3+ -doped phosphate fiber laser.
abstract: We report the demonstration of the first, to our knowledge, cladding-pumped continuous-wave Yb(3+)-doped phosphate-glass fiber laser. Phosphate hosts are of interest because they can be much more heavily doped than silica, and because of the possibility that they may have a higher photodarkening threshold. In an 84.6 cm double-clad fiber doped with 12 wt. % of Yb(2)O(3) and laser-diode pumped at 940 nm, nearly 20 W of single-mode 1.07 microm output power was generated with 60.2 W of absorbed pump power. The measured dependence of the output power on pump power is in excellent agreement with simulations.
authors.affiliation: Edward L. Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. leeyw@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Y W
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: M J F
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Digonnet
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Byer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang