Sub-100 fs all-fiber polarization maintaining widely tunable laser at 2 µm

Abstract

An all-fiber polarization maintaining (PM) laser tunable over 170 nm via Raman soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) delivering sub-100 fs pulses with a central wavelength ranging from 1880 to 2050 nm is presented. The 40 MHz laser emits power ranging from 15 to 34 mW with pulse duration as short as 80 fs. It is based on exclusively commercially available standard fibers and has been designed to produce sub-100 fs pulse durations over the whole spectral range without the need for adjusting neither nonlinearities nor dispersion. The laser is versatile and a robust potential alternative to Tm and Tm:Ho oscillators.