The design of > 2000-nm, ~ 100-MHz ultrafast Tm-doped fiber soliton laser source

Abstract We firstly propose a roadmap for the design of high repetition rate (~100 MHz) Tm-doped ultrafast fiber laser with an emission wavelength above 2000 nm. This roadmap is confirmed by both theoretical simulation and experimental verification. The designed Tm-doped fiber oscillator not only operates in continuous wave regime with a broad tunable wavelength range of ~ 100 nm, but also in mode-locking regime with an emission wavelength > 2000 nm (up to 2020 nm). A 470-fs laser pulse with a pulse repetition rate of ~96 MHz and the maximum average power of 50 mW are achieved at the output wavelength of 2007 nm, matching well with the theoretical prediction. In a further step, the seed laser pulse is amplified to 3.3 W, accompanied by a Raman frequency shift of the output wavelength to 2346 nm. The homogeneous intense broadband spectrum with a bandwidth of 240-nm centered at 2200 nm is also observed.