Visible upconversion fiber lasers in ring configuration

Up-conversion fiber lasers based on Pr 3+ /Yb 3+ doped fluoride fibers and pumped at 835 nm can operate on emission lines in the red, orange, green, and blue spectral region. Up to now only Fabry-Perot configurations with two mirrors butt-coupled to the fiber ends were investigated. In this paper we present the first visible Pr 3+ /Yb 3+ fiber lasers in a ring configuration. In contrast to the usual Fabry-Perot configuration, the basic ring resonator setup contains no free-space optics and no parts which need to be adjusted. The main challenge for such a setup is the connection between the fluoride laser fiber and the remaining part of the ring resonator, which is made from silica fibers. Due to the very different melting temperatures of both glasses usual fusion splices are impossible. We use a special technique to couple the fibers with glue.