High-power transmission characterization of Chalcogenide glasses using a Tm:fiber laser system

Chalcogenide samples with varying selenium concentrations, As10Se90, As30Se70, As40Se60, and As50Se50, were characterized for high power transmission using a Tm:fiber laser system. The Tm:fiber laser oscillator consists of a LMA fiber with 25/400 μm core/cladding diameters pumped by 793 nm diode. The output beam was collimated to a 3 mm beam diameter, and transmitted through the chalcogenide samples at CW powers up to 23 W. We measure the transmission as a function of incident power, as well as some initial characterization of surface damage from nanosecond pulses at 2 μm. Furthermore, we utilize a wavefront sensor to characterized the thermal lens induced by the Tm:fiber laser.