Multi-component yttrium aluminosilicate (YAS) fiber prepared by melt-in-tube method for stable single-frequency laser

Abstract

The multi-component glass fibers have demonstrated their unique advantages in the application of single-frequency lasers due to their higher solubility of rare-earth ions and thus a higher gain per unit length in a compact fiber laser cavity. In this study, multi-component yttrium aluminosilicate (YAS) fiber with high doping concentration of Yb3+ was prepared by the &quot;melt-in-tube&quot; (MIT) method. A unit-length gain of 3 dB/cm was obtained in a 4.4 cm-long YAS fiber, the laser output slope efficiency reached 23.8% in a 10 cm-long Yb:YAS fiber. Single-frequency laser operation was achieved in a 1.7-cm-long Yb:YAS active fiber. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of single-frequency laser with this YAS glass fiber as gain medium. The novel multi-component YAS fiber can be applied as a new gain material to realize single-frequency fiber laser.</p