Chalcogenide glass Fiber LAser for Mid-InfraRed – FLAMIR

The FLAMIR project aims to produce fiber lasers in the mid-infrared (MIR) beyond 4 µm, based on chalcogenide glass (ChG) fiber doped with rare-earth (RE) ions such as Dy3+ or Pr3+. These materials are very promising for this application since they show low phonon energy and high refractive index, and consequently, are suitable to obtain high absorption and emission cross-sections in RE-doped glasses. For this purpose, two strategies will be developed to inscribe the Bragg Gratings (BG), either by ultrafast laser inscription in the fiber core using a point-by-point process or by a phase-mask technique. Also, different pumping schemes will be tested in order to achieve the highest RE emission efficiency. Finally, in FLAMIR the ChG should allow (i) high content RE doping, (ii) low loss fibers, and (iii) permanent BG writing. Taking into account theoretical calculations and preliminary results, MIR fiber lasers are reasonably expectable within the FLAMIR project.