We report the demonstration of a 4.42-μm silicafiber- based Raman laser delivering a record average output power of 1.4 W and operating in a single transversal mode. The Raman laser is based on a hydrogen-filled hollow-core silica fiber, which is pumped by a nanosecond erbium-doped fiber laser at 1.56 μm. In spite of a large quantum defect of a 1.56 to 4.42 μm conversion, the Raman laser demonstrates no heatinitiated problems. Due to the implementation of a linearly polarized pump and virtually all-polarization-maintaining configuration of the Raman laser, the quantum efficiency has reached 53 %, which is a theoretical limit imposed by optical losses (1.1 dB/m) at 4.42 μm in a state-of-the-art revolver hollowcore silica fiber. The developed laser demonstrates the prospects of gas fiber Raman lasers to serve as pump sources for highpower supercontinuum generation in the mid-infrared spectral range. Such sources can find numerous scientific and biomedical applications.

In this Letter, we propose and realize a novel concept for a high-peak-power highly efficient fiber amplifier in the 1.55 µm spectral range. The amplifier is based on the simultaneous utilization of Er-doped, Yb-free, and Er-Yb codoped large-mode-area fibers spliced together. Using this approach, we demonstrate the amplification of single-frequency 160 ns pulses at 1554 nm to a peak power of 3.7 kW with a pump-to-signal conversion efficiency of 23.6% relative to the launched multimode pump power at 976 nm.

We present multimode fiber lasers for tandem pumping of high power Er-, Tm-, and Yb-doped lasers. These pump sources are based on especially developed multimode Er- and Yb-doped double-clad fibers. Er-doped lasers with record pump conversion efficiency >48% at 1565 nm and more than 41% at 1535 and 1590 nm were realized. Yb-doped fiber laser at 1020 nm with record high 85% pump conversion efficiency was demonstrated. Also, we propose novel design of compact and cost-effective multimode laser scheme. The potential of power scaling of proposed lasers to the 1-10-kW level and their advantages as resonant pump sources are discussed.

The technical process of the synthesis of a fluorophosphosilicate (FPS) glass core was thoroughly investigated for the first time utilizing a modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) all-gas-phase fabrication method. It was discovered that the limiting doping level of the silica glass simultaneously co-doped with phosphorus (P) and fluorine (F) was found to be confined by the formation of POF₃ gas. The dopants content was achieved as high as 4.7 at% of P and 1.1 at% of F in a glass core, respectively. A developed “in-house” manufacturing method makes it possible to fabricate a large mode area (LMA) purely single-mode Er–Yb co-doped optical fibers with a core diameter of 20 μm and with a lasing efficiency comparable to commercially available LMA Er–Yb optical fibers.

A novel method of SBS gain suppression in passive single-mode optical fibers is proposed and experimentally verified. The effect is achieved due to special propagation conditions created for a number of the core-bounded acoustic modes effectively involved in the SBS, such that its gain becomes approximately evenly distributed over a wide spectral range, thereby proportionally reducing its maximum. To verify and investigate this method in depth, single-mode LMA fibers with correspondingly optimized acoustic index profiles are fabricated, experimentally tested, and analyzed. Uneven complex doping of the core with two additives, P2O5 and F, forms a high-contrast gradient acoustic index profile while maintaining a quasi-uniform optical refractive index profile. With a contrast of P2O5 of more than 6 mol.%, we achieved 8 dB of SBS suppression over conventional uniformly doped LMA fibers. Moreover, it is shown that more than 10 dB of SBS gain suppression can be achieved if the optimal dopant distribution is realized.