Stable 10 W Er:ZBLAN fiber laser operating at 271–288μm

We have developed a diode-pumped tunable 3μm fiber laser with a cw output power of the order of 10W with the use of an erbium-doped ZBLAN fiber. A tunability range of 110nm (2770 to 2880nm) with an output power between 8 and 11W was demonstrated. As the pump power was increased, the center of the wavelength range was shifted toward longer wavelengths, but the width of the wavelength range was largely unaffected. The total tunability range for various pump power levels was 170nm (2710 to 2880nm). To our knowledge, this is the highest performance (output power and tunability) obtained from a tunable 3μm fiber laser