title: Mid-IR supercontinuum generation in a ZBLAN fiber pumped by a gain-switched mode-locked Tm-doped fiber laser and amplifier system.
abstract: We demonstrate a novel method of mid-infrared (mid-IR) supercontinuum (SC) generation with the use of a 2 µm gain-switched self-mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser. SC radiation ranging from ~1.9 to 3.8 µm wavelength, generated in a single-mode ZBLAN fiber with a zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) shifted to ~1.9 µm, is reported. An average output power of 0.74 W with 0.27 W at wavelengths longer than 2.4 µm was measured. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report on such an approach to generate a mid-IR SC in optical fibers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Optoelectronics, Military University of Technology, 2 Kaliskiego Street, 00 – 908 Warsaw, Poland. jswiderski@wat.edu.pl
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Swiderski
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michalska
authors.forename: Gwenael
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maze
mesh_terms: D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007259:Infrared Rays; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State; D013932:Thulium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D013932:Thulium