Watt-level 1.7-μm single-frequency thulium-doped fiber oscillator

Here we demonstrated an efficient high-power single-frequency thulium-doped fiber ring laser operating at 1720 nm. Three cascaded sub-rings were inserted into the main cavity to significantly enlarge the effective free spectral range. By incorporating a fiber Bragg grating, the single longitudinal mode operation was achieved. The maximum single-frequency output power reached up to 1.11 W under 3.75-W launched pump power, while the slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 46.4%. The laser linewidth at maximum single-frequency power was measured of 1.9 kHz. Potential power scaling of the single-frequency output power with different quantity and lengths of the sub-rings was also theoretically investigated.