Diode-pumped Er3+ glass laser at 2.7 um

Diode-pumped cw laser oscillations in the 2.7 micrometers region were obtained using 10 mol% ErF3 doped fluorozircoaluminate glass fibers. Lasing threshold proportionately decreased with decreasing fiber core diameter. The minimum threshold observed for 110 micrometers core fiber was approximately 10 mW in absorbed pump power. Maximum slope efficiency of 8% was obtained for 1% output coupling. Output performance was significantly affected by the pump wavelength. The mechanism of cw lasing in this self-terminating system was discussed.