Coherently combined power of 20 W at 2000 nm from a pair of thulium-doped fiber lasers

We experimentally demonstrated coherent beam combining of a pair of thulium-doped fiber lasers using an all-fiber Fox‐Smith resonator. We built two thulium-doped fiber lasers from PM fibers and pumped them at 793 nm. Each laser provided a power of more than 10 W at a wavelength of 2000 nm with a slope efficiency of more than 0.5. Then a compound Fox‐Smith resonator was created using the PM coupler. The obtained laser power was more than 20 W due to a constructive interference at the output of the laser, while the slope efficiency decreased to a value of 0.35. A stable CW output signal was achieved despite the fact that the individually operated lasers had the tendency to self-pulsate. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

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