Pulsed mid-infrared fluoride fiber laser with operating wavelength near 3 µm

Mid-infrared lasers operating near 3 µm are a subject of considerable research effort in recent years. The main reason is the broad range of potential applications for such sources in the field of medicine, environmental monitoring and free space communication. For many applications pulsed mid-infrared light sources with high output energy, short pulse duration (to reduce the impact of thermal background) and good pulse-to-pulse stability are preferred. A promising candidate for such pulsed light sources is a mid-infrared fiber laser realised using fluoride glass fibers doped with rare earth ions (for example erbium or dysprosium). In this contribution pulsed operation was obtained by implementing the Q-switching technique in a laser setup consisting of a fluoride fiber pumped with near infrared laser diodes. The obtained pulses have output energy above 100 µJ, with pulse width below 50 ns and repetition rate in the kilohertz range.