Study of a Hi-Bi FOLM for tunable and dual-wavelength operation of a thulium-doped fiber laser.

We report a study of an all-fiber Tm-doped fiber laser with tunable single wavelength emission and dual-wavelength generation operating in different laser wavelength ranges depending on the Tm-doped fiber (TDF) length. The wavelength selection and tuning for single wavelength laser operation and the adjustment of cavity losses for dual wavelength laser operation is obtained by temperature variations of the high birefringence fiber loop in a fiber optical loop mirror. Stable dual wavelength operation is achieved at the single wavelength tuning limits when cavity losses are balanced to generate two simultaneous laser lines with equal powers. A linear cavity fiber laser setup with TDF lengths of 2, 4, 8 and 12 m is used to obtain tunable single wavelength operation in a range of ~40 nm for each TDF length. A total tuning range of ~110 nm with the four different TDF lengths is achieved. At dual-wavelength laser operation the wavelength separation was ~48 nm. The maximal power efficiency of ~34.9% with a maximum output power of 274 mW was obtained with the use of TDF length of 4 m.