Q-switching of a thulium-doped fibre laser using a holmium-doped fibre saturable absorber

Abstract

We have proposed and demonstrated a new passively -switched thulium-doped fibre laser configuration. A distinctive feature of this configuration is the use of a heavily holmium-doped fibre for -switching. Lasing was obtained at , with a pulse energy of and pulse duration of . The highest pulse repetition rate was .