Power-scaling of erbium 3/&mgr; m-laser
US6650663B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 19, 2000 |
| Grant date | Nov 18, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 19, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S2303/00
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A diode pumped fiber laser is described that utilizes highly erbium-doped fluoride glass to produce 1 W and higher outputs at about 3 &mgr;m. High dopant concentrations in fluoride glass make it possible to efficiently pump the laser around 975 nm which in turn leads to higher slope efficiencies for the laser. Furthermore, by using this pumping wavelength, saturation of laser output due to bleaching of the ground state is overcome. The fluoride glass composition is a modified version of the standard ZBLAN composition. This altered composition achieves high glass quality, enables fiber drawing, and avoids the problem of crystallization.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.