Recent developments in lanthanide-doped mid-infrared fluoride fiber lasers

Mid-infrared fiber sources, emitting between 2.5 mu m and 5.0 mu m, are interesting for their great potential in several application fields such as material processing, biomedicine, remote sensing and infrared countermeasures due to their high-power, their diffraction-limited beam quality as well as their robust monolithic architecture. In this review, we will focus on the recent progress in continuous wave and pulsed mid-infrared fiber lasers and the components that bring these laser sources closer to a field deployment as well as in industrial systems. Accordingly, we will briefly illustrate the potential of such mid-infrared fiber lasers through a few selected applications. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This review focuses on the recent progress in continuous wave and pulsed mid-infrared fiber lasers and the components that bring these laser sources closer to a field deployment as well as in industrial systems. Selected applications are briefly illustrated to showcase the potential of mid-infrared fiber lasers.