All-fiber-coupled two-colour laser system for mid-infrared generation

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O/E Land is looking to expand their mid-infrared fiber product line to cover the full "fingerprint region" of 2 to 25µm for molecular spectroscopy. The mid-infrared is becoming increasingly important for security applications. We are proposing to design a compact, short pulse, completely fiber-coupled, two-colour laser for long wavelength mid-infrared generation. A completely fiber coupled system would be a stable, efficient and compact source of short-pulse mid-infrared that could be used in sensing and spectroscopy applications. Currently there are no short-pulse, compact, alignment-free laser systems covering this spectral region. The all-fiber-coupled system would be based on the two-colour Yb:fiber amplifier developed at the University of Waterloo. This two-colour amplifier has been used to generate mid-infrared in the long wavelength side of the fingerprint region. The Waterloo system is however not an all-fiber system and is in fact a large system currently covering a 4 by 8 square foot optical bench. We are proposing that the first stage of this amplifier system be replaced with a much simpler, more compact and alignment free system comprised of: a chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) and a fiber-coupled semiconductor-optical-amplifier (SOA). Both devices would be directly fiber coupled to the broadband continuum laser source and thereby eliminate the current alignment issues offering greater ease of use, greater power stability, higher coupling efficiency and a much smaller footprint.