Semiconductor saturable absorber mirror passively Q-switched 2.97 μm fluoride fiber laser

A diode-cladding-pumped mid-infrared passively Q-switched Ho3+-doped fluoride fiber laser using a reverse designed broad band semiconductor saturable mirror (SESAM) was demonstrated. Nonlinear reflectivity of the SESAM was measured using an in-house Yb3+-doped mode-locked fiber laser at 1062 nm. Stable pulse train was produced at a slope efficient of 12.1% with respect to the launched pump power. Maximum pulse energy of 6.65 mu J with a pulse width of 1.68 mu s and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of similar to 50 dB was achieved at a repetition rate of 47.6 kHz and center wavelength of 2.971 mu m. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first 3 mu m region SESAM-based Q-switched fiber laser with the highest average power and pulse energy, as well as the longest wavelength from mid-infrared passively Q-switched fluoride fiber lasers.