Widely tunable short-infrared thulium and holmium doped fluorozirconate waveguide chip lasers.
We report widely tunable (≈ 260 nm) Tm(3+) and Ho(3+) doped fluorozirconate (ZBLAN) glass waveguide extended cavity lasers with close to diffraction limited beam quality (M(2) ≈ 1.3). The waveguides are based on ultrafast laser inscribed depressed claddings. A Ti:sapphire laser pumped Tm(3+)-doped chip laser continuously tunes from 1725 nm to 1975 nm, and a Tm(3+)-sensitized Tm(3+):Ho(3+) chip laser displays tuning across both ions evidenced by a red enhanced tuning range of 1810 to 2053 nm. We also demonstrate a compact 790 nm diode laser pumped Tm(3+)-doped chip laser which tunes from 1750 nm to 1998 nm at a 14% incident slope efficiency, and a beam quality of M(2) ≈ 1.2 for a large mode-area waveguide with 70 µm core diameter.
D G
DG
Lancaster
S
S
Gross
M J
MJ
Withford
T M
TM
Monro
D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D006695:Holmium / Q000737:chemistry*; D007259:Infrared Rays; D054023:Lasers, Semiconductor; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013932:Thulium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013997:Time Factors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry; D015040:Zirconium / Q000737:chemistry*
D013932:Thulium; D015040:Zirconium; D014025:Titanium; D006695:Holmium