Thulium-doped ZBLAN blue upconversion fiber laser: theory

Abstract

A theory is presented for thulium-doped ZBLAN fiber amplifiers and lasers that are upconversion pumped by a single source at ∼1150 nm and emit in the blue spectrum at ∼480 nm. The performance of both heavily saturated traveling-wave power amplifiers and laser oscillators is studied with a view to understanding device optimization. The laser model is compared with published experimental data.