title: Volume Bragg grating stabilized spectrally narrow Tm fiber laser.
abstract: A Tm-doped large mode area (LMA) silica fiber laser has been locked to a stable wavelength of 2,053.9 nm using a volume Bragg grating (VBG). The measured spectral width of the laser output was <300 pm, limited by the spectrometer resolution. Although this laser had modest output (approximately 5W) and slope efficiency (41%), this new approach to spectrally limiting the output of LMA fiber lasers is inherently extendable to kilowatt powers, opening up several applications including high-power pulsed fiber lasers and spectral beam combining. Performance characteristics of the laser compared to one using a dielectric mirror as a high reflector are described, and the results imply low VBG losses.
authors.affiliation: Townes Laser Institute, CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA. tmccomb@creol.ucf.edu
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McComb
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sudesh
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richardson