Visible-NIR tunable Pr3+-doped fiber laser pumped by a GaN laser diode

We demonstrated continuous wave laser operation with a tunable range of over 300 nm in the visible and near-infrared regions (479-497, 515-548, 597-737, 849-960 nm) using a single 9-cm Pr3+-doped ZBLAN fiber pumped by a GaN laser. The total tunable range was 6469 cm(-1), which is wider than that of conventional Ti:sapphire lasers. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America