Gain-switched 3-/spl mu/m Er:Pr-codoped fiber laser

Summary form only given. Recent interest in 3-/spl mu/m laser sources has been driven by potential medical applications such as laser surgery. The strong water absorption in this spectral region allows high-quality cutting and ablation of biological tissue. The erbium-doped fluoride fiber laser shows promise as a compact and efficient source of 2.7-/spl mu/m laser radiation. The fiber structure offers relatively low threshold pump powers and potentially high laser intensity with reduced thermal management issues. The high pump intensity and consequent pump excited-state absorption (ESA) in singly Er-doped fiber has led to output power saturation due to co-lasing at 850 nm. The combination of Pr/sup 3+/ codoping to quench the lower laser level lifetime (see Er/sup 3+//Pr/sup 3+/ energy levels) and the relatively low pump intensity in double-clad fibers has been utilized and high power unsaturated CW operation has been demonstrated. The principle methods used to generate pulsed fiber laser output are Q-switching and mode-locking.