The Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences has achieved a significant technological breakthrough in the field of fiber lasers. A team of scientists has succeeded in developing a high-power holmium-doped fiber laser with a record efficiency of 84%, surpassing the previous maximum by 10%. A scientific article on the research, which is being conducted as part of the LasApp project, was published in the journal Optics Express.
The newly developed fiber laser achieves an output of nearly 100 W, which is the current limit for core-pumped holmium lasers. Another major achievement is the overcoming of a long-standing technological barrier: the researchers have succeeded in suppressing the negative effect of high holmium concentration, which previously led to reduced efficiency. This result opens up new possibilities for further increasing the power of fiber lasers in the 2.1 µm wavelength range.
“The efficiency achieved, combined with high power, represents a significant step forward in the development of fiber lasers. It shows that even at high concentrations of active ions, top-tier performance can be achieved—something that was previously considered a fundamental limitation,” says Bára Švejkarová, co-author of the article.
This progress paves the way for scaling up power output to the kilowatt range and expands the potential for using these lasers in a wide range of applications—such as advanced industrial technologies or defense systems.
The research findings were published in the journal Optics Express, https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.589906.