文中首次提出并验证了基于腔内色散管理实现飞秒光参量振荡器（OPO）光谱净化和稳定性提升的方法。对于高功率飞秒OPO，输出脉冲通常具有随时间无序变化的宽带不规则光谱，输出功率波动较大。利用铌酸锂（LiNbO₃）晶体在腔内引入额外的负色散，通过泵浦脉冲的时间滤波效应实现了干净平滑的窄光谱近转换极限的飞秒脉冲输出，光谱稳定性和功率稳定性得到了极大改善。该方法是一种实现飞秒OPO光谱净化和稳定性提升的灵活简便的方法，对于发展高功率的超短脉冲OPO具有重要的应用价值。

We demonstrated a femtosecond mode-locked Er:ZrF₄-BaF₂-LaF₃-AlF₃-NaF (Er:ZBLAN) fiber laser at 2.8 μm based on the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. The laser generated an average output power of 317 mW with a repetition rate of 107 MHz and pulse duration as short as 131 fs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse generated directly from a mid-infrared mode-locked Er:ZBLAN fiber laser to date. Numerical simulation and experimental results confirm that reducing the gain fiber length is an effective way to shorten the mode-locked pulse duration in the Er:ZBLAN fiber laser. The work takes an important step towards sub-100-fs mid-infrared pulse generation from mode-locked Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers.

High-power ultrafast fiber lasers operating at the 2 μm wavelength are extremely desirable for material processing, laser surgery, and nonlinear optics. Here we fabricated large-core (LC) double-cladding Tm-doped silica fiber via the sol-gel method. The sol-gel-fabricated Tm-doped silica (SGTS) fiber had a large core diameter of 30 μm with a high refractive index homogeneity (Δn=2×10 4). With the newly developed LC SGTS fiber as the gain fiber, high-power mode-locking was realized. By using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) as a mode locker, the LC SGTS fiber oscillator generated mode-locked pulses with an average output power as high as 1.0 W and a pulse duration of 23.9 ps at the wavelength of 1955.0 nm. Our research results show that the self-developed LC Tm-doped silica fiber via the sol-gel method is a promising gain fiber for generating high-power ultrafast lasers in the 2 μm spectral region.

Back conversion is an intrinsic phenomenon in nonlinear frequency down-conversion processes. However, the physical reason for its occurrence is not well understood. Here, we theoretically reveal that back conversion is the result of a π-phase jump associated with the depletion of one interacting wave. By suppressing the idler phase jump through a deliberate crystal absorption, the back conversion can be inhabited, thus enhancing the conversion efficiency from the pump to the signal. The results presented in this Letter will further the understanding of nonlinear parametric processes and pave the way toward the design of highly efficient down-conversion systems.

We report a continuous-wave Er:ZBLAN fiber laser with the operation wavelength reaching 3.68 μm. The mid-infrared Er:ZBLAN fiber laser is pumped with the dual-wavelength sources consisting of a commercial laser diode at 970 nm and a homemade Tm-doped fiber laser at 1973 nm. By increasing the launched pump power at 1973 nm, the laser wavelength can be switched from 3.52 to 3.68 μm. The maximum output power of 0.85 W is obtained with a slope efficiency of 25.14% with respect to the 1973 nm pump power. In the experiment, the laser emission at 3.68 μm is obtained with a significant power of 0.62 W, which is the longest emission wavelength in free-running Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers.

The effect of co-doping Y3+ and the doping concentration of Nd3+ on the spectroscopic properties and laser performance of Nd:CaF2 crystals are investigated systematically. For a 0.5% Nd:CaF2 crystal, the emission lifetime at 1.06 μm increases from 18 to 361 μs by co-doping 10 at.% Y3+, while the emission cross section increases to 4.27×10 20 cm2 at 1054 nm. With a 10 at.% doping concentration of Y3+, Nd,Y:CaF2 crystals concentrate emission bands that peak at 1054 nm with shoulders at 1063 nm, and FWHM at about 30 nm. A diode-pumped, highly efficient laser operation is obtained with 0.5% Nd, 10% Y:CaF2 and 0.6% Nd, 10% Y:CaF2 crystals, with slope efficiencies over 30% and 27%, respectively, and a maximum output power up to 901 mW.