High-power all-fiber wavelength-tunable thulium doped fiber laser at 2 μm

Power scaling of an all-fiber wavelength-tunable thulium doped fiber laser (TDFL) based on a monolithic master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system is presented. The whole configuration is comprised of a low-power seed oscillator and two stages of double-cladding thulium doped fiber amplifiers (TDFAs). The tuning of the operating wavelength is realized by inserting a spectral tunable filter into the seed oscillator. Maximum average output power of 115 W is obtained at 1950 nm with a linearly fitted slope efficiency of 51.7%. This laser has superior spectral characteristics with wavelength tunable from 1940 nm to 2070 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an all-fiber wavelength-tunable TDFL at 2 m with output power exceeding 100 W. The results are of great interest for many application areas. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America