High-power broadly tunable Ho/sup 3+/-doped silica fibre laser

Tuning of the 2.1 (mu)m Ho/sup 3+/-doped silica fibre laser is demonstrated for the first time. The /sup 5/I/sub 7/ -/sup 5/I/sub 8/ transition provides tuning over 144 nm, from 2019 to 2163 nm, and a maximum pump-limited output power of 1.58 W at 2100 nm was produced.