A 1720-nm ring-cavity Tm-doped fiber laser with optimized output coupling

We have demonstrated an efficient 1720-nm all-fiber laser with ring-cavity configuration based on commercial Tmdoped silica fiber and 1570-nm in-band pump source. The rate equation model was built up to analyze the laser performance of Tm-doped fiber, which exhibits strong absorption in 1.7-μm region. The results show that efficient laser operation can be achieved through the optimization of output coupling and the length of Tm-doped fiber. By using homemade couplers, we experimentally achieved 2.36-W laser output power under 6-W launched pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power and optical efficiency were 50.2% and 39.3%, respectively. Due to the employment of ring resonator, a narrow laser linewidth of ~4 GHz at maximum output power was observed.