In this work, we present experimental results of characterization of the developed holmium-doped silica-based optical fibers with holmium ions concentrations in the range from 1000 to 10000 ppm. The fibers were fabricated by the modified chemical vapor deposition and solution doping method. They were characterized in terms of their spectral attenuation, refractive index profile, and especially performance in fiber laser. Simultaneously, two different fiber laser setups were tested. In the first one, holmium-doped fiber in Fabry-Perot configuration was pumping by in house developed thulium-doped fiber laser in ring arrangement. In the second one, bulk-optic pump-coupling configuration, consisted of a commercially available thulium fiber laser emitting at 1940 nm and system of lenses and mirrors was used. We have focused on comparison of laser output powers, slope efficiencies, and laser thresholds for individual holmiumdoped fiber in these different laser arrangements. Finally, the application of the developed fiber in subpicosecond fiber laser with graphene-based saturable absorber for mode-locking operation was investigated.

Date Published: 27 April 2016
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9886, Micro-Structured and Specialty Optical Fibres IV, 988607 (27 April 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2227618

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9886:
Micro-Structured and Specialty Optical Fibres IV
Kyriacos Kalli; Alexis Mendez, Editor(s)