A "field-usable" diode-pumped /spl sim/120-nm wavelength-tunable CW mid-IR fiber laser

Summary form only given. The understanding of mid-IR laser sources in Er:ZBLAN materials has dramatically improved in the last two years, resulting in the demonstration of high-power (watt-level) diode-pumped 2.8-/spl mu/m fiber lasers that exploit interionic cross-relaxation processes in novel materials with high erbium-doping densities. Although tuning of Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers in the vicinity of 2.7 /spl mu/m has been demonstrated earlier, the presentation describes the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of a diode-pumped tunable mid-IR fiber laser, as well as the first demonstration of tunable operation in the vicinity of 2.8 /spl mu/m, as needed for high sensitivity spectroscopic detection of important trace gases (such as HF, NO, and water vapor). The compactness and portability of the present device lends promise for its field-usability in the foreseeable future.