Low-Threshold Microlaser in Er : Yb Phosphate Glass Coated Microsphere

Author

Dong, Chun-Hua ; Xiao, Yun-Feng ; Han, Zheng-Fu ; Guo, Guang-Can ; Jiang, Xiaoshun ; Tong, Limin ; Gu, Chun ; Ming, Hai

Author_Institution

Univ. of Sci. & Technol. of China, Hefei

Volume

20

Issue

5

fYear

2008

fDate

3/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

342

Lastpage

344

Abstract

We developed a new method to fabricate a silica microsphere coated by a thin layer of Er : Yb-doped phosphate glass. The coated microsphere possessed high-Q whispering-gallery modes and formed single-mode and multimode microlasers in the both 1550- and 1040-nm bands. A low-loss fiber taper was used to not only launch the pump power around 980 nm into the microsphere, but also collect the resulting laser emissions. In our experiment, the threshold pump power as low as 30 muW of a single longitudinal mode was obtained.

Keywords

erbium; laser modes; micro-optics; optical fibre losses; optical glass; optical pumping; phosphate glasses; solid lasers; whispering gallery modes; ytterbium; P₂O₅-Er₂O₃-Yb₂O₃; high-Q whispering-gallery modes; laser emissions; low-loss fiber taper; low-threshold microlaser; multimode microlasers; phosphate glass coated microsphere; pump power; silica microsphere; single-mode microlasers; threshold pump power; wavelength 1040 nm; wavelength 1550 nm; Erbium; Fiber lasers; Glass; Laboratories; Laser modes; Luminescence; Optical bistability; Optical pumping; Silicon compounds; Whispering gallery modes; Microlaser; microsphere; whispering gallery mode (WGM);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2007.915642

Filename

4447284