28 W CW linearly polarized single mode all-fiber thulium-doped fiber laser operating at 1.95 μm

An all-fiber type, CW, linearly polarized thulium-doped fiber laser is reported. Highly linear polarization was achieved by a special management of fiber Bragg gratings, which performs as the laser cavity reflectors. The laser generated 28 W signal output at 1949 nm with a slope efficiency of 47.3%. The polarization extinction ratio of the laser was measured to be around 20 dB. The beam quality of the laser was near diffraction-limited, with M-2 of 1.1. The laser's output features make it to be a potential light source for some important applications such as for pumping holmium-doped solid state lasers. (C) 2017 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)