High signal-to-noise ratio, single-frequency 2 µm Brillouin fiber laser.

ABSTRACT

A high optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) single-frequency 2 µm Brillouin fiber laser (BFL) with watt-level output and high transfer efficiency is demonstrated for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The Brillouin pump is constructed with a two-stage thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) seeded by a 2 µm laser diode, providing 4.02 W average power with 1 MHz linewidth. Using an optimized length of 14 m for the Brillouin ring cavity, the BFL works stably in single-mode region with 8 kHz linewidth because of the linewidth narrowing effect. The transfer efficiency is 51% with 1.08 W output power and 62 dB OSNR for 3.22 W pump power.