Er-doped silica fiber laser made by powder-based additive manufacturing
Pawel Maniewski, Martin Brunzell, Laura Barrett, C. M. Harvey, Valdas Pašiškevičius, Fredrik Laurell
Abstract
The pursuit of advanced fiber laser technologies has driven research toward unconventional manufacturing techniques. In this work, we present an erbium-doped fiber laser made using powder-based additive manufacturing. An Er 3+ /Al 3+ co-doped silica glass rod was printed using laser powder deposition and then used as the core material in a fiber preform. The fiber drawn from the preform exhibited the complete, desired functionality linked to Er 3+ doping. To demonstrate this, a standing wave laser cavity was formed with the feedback attained from the cleaved ends of the manufactured fiber. The high quality of the fiber is showcased through a low background loss, single-mode operation, a 9.4% laser slope efficiency, and an output of 4.5 mW, limited by the available pump power. This proof-of-concept opens up promising areas for rapid fabrication and development of high-performance fibers and fiber lasers.