1283–1460 nm continuously tunable, watt-level bismuth-doped phosphosilicate fiber laser and its frequency doubling to a visible laser

Abstract

We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of an O + E-band tunable watt-level bismuth-doped phosphosilicate fiber laser and its frequency doubling to tunable red laser. Benefiting from the two types of bismuth active centers associated with silicon and phosphorus introduced in one fiber, an ultrabroad gain is available in the designed low-water-peak bismuth-doped phosphosilicate fiber (Bi-PSF) pumped by a self-made 1239 nm Raman fiber laser. The high-efficiency tunable lasing is achieved with a maximum output power of 1.705 W around 1320 nm and a slope efficiency of 33.0%. The wavelength can be continuously tuned from 1283 to 1460 nm over a 177 nm spectral range, almost covering the whole O+E-bands. We further employ a polarization beam splitter in the cavity to output an O + E-band linear-polarization laser for second-harmonic generation by a designed multi-period MgO2:PPLN crystal, and a 650–690-nm tunable visible laser is correspondingly obtained. Such an O+E-wideband tunable high-power laser and the SHG red laser may have great potential in the all-band optical communications, biophotonics, and spectroscopy.