Towards ten-watt-level 3-5 µm Raman lasers using tellurite fiber

Raman lasers based on mid-infrared fibers operating at 3-5 µm atmospheric transparency window are attractive sources for several applications. Compared to fluoride and chalcogenide fibers, tellurite fibers are more advantageous for high power Raman fiber laser sources at 3-5 µm because of their broader Raman gain bandwidth, much larger Raman shift and better physical and chemical properties. Here we report on our simulations for the development of 10-watt-level 3-5 µm Raman lasers using tellurite fibers as the nonlinear gain medium and readily available continuous-wave (cw) and Q-switched erbium-doped fluoride fiber lasers at 2.8 µm as the pump sources. Our results show that a watt-level or even ten-watt-level fiber laser source in the 3-5 µm atmospheric transparency window can be achieved by utilizing the 1st- and 2nd-order Raman scattering in the tellurite fiber. The presented numerical study provides valuable guidance for future 3-5 um Raman fiber laser development.