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Fiber lasers that operate at 1.7 μm have important applications in many fields, such as biological imaging, medical treatment, etc. Fiber gas Raman lasers (FGRLs) based on gas stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) provide an elegant way to realize efficient 1.7 μm fiber laser output. Here, we report the first all-fiber structure tunable pulsed 1.7 μm FGRLs by fusion splicing a hydrogen-filled HC-PCF with solid-core fibers. Pumping with a homemade tunable pulsed 1.5 μm fiber amplifier, efficient 1693~1705 nm Stokes waves are obtained by hydrogen molecules via SRS. The maximum average output Stokes power is 1.63 W with an inside optical–optical conversion efficiency of 58%. This work improves the compactness and stability of 1.7 μm FGRLs, which is of great significance to their applications.

We demonstrate a 1.5 μm methane-filled hollow-core fiber (HCF) amplifier that delivers 7.1 W of narrow-linewidth (<0.1 nm), near-diffraction-limited (M2 < 1.2) pulsed Raman output. The system is pumped by a 1064 nm pulsed fiber laser and amplifies a 1543 nm continuous-wave seed via stimulated Raman scattering in methane. Using a 45-m HCF, we systematically investigated the influence of seed injection on key laser characteristics, covering the spectral profile, power scaling, and beam properties. This work provides an effective strategy for realizing high-performance fiber lasers in the 1.5 μm band.

Mid-infrared (MIR) fiber lasers are important for a wide range of applications in sensing, spectroscopy, imaging, defense, and security. Some progress has been made in the research of MIR fiber lasers based on soft glass fibers, however, the emission range of rare-earth ions and the robustness of the host materials are still a major challenge for MIR fiber lasers. The large number of gases provide a variety of optical transitions in the MIR band. When combined with recent advances in low-loss hollow-core fiber (HCF), there is a great opportunity for gas-filled fiber lasers to further extend the radiation to the MIR region. Here, a 4.8-μm CO-filled silica-based HCF laser is reported for the first time. This is enabled by an in-house manufactured broadband low-loss HCF with a measured loss of 1.81 dB/m at 4.8 μm. A maximum MIR output power of 46 mW and a tuning range of 180 nm (from 4644 to 4824 nm) are obtained by using an advanced 2.33-μm narrow-linewidth fiber laser. This demonstration represents the longest-wavelength silica-based fiber laser to date, while the absorption loss of bulk silica at 4824 nm is up to 13, 000 dB/m. Further wavelength expansion could be achieved by changing the pump absorption line and optimizing the laser structure.

In recent years, mid-infrared fiber lasers based on gas-filled photonic crystal hollow-core fibers (HCFs) have attracted enormous attention. They provide a potential method for the generation of high-power mid-infrared emissions, particularly beyond 4 μm. However, there are high requirements of the pump for wavelength stability, tunability, laser linewidth, etc., due to the narrow absorption linewidth of gases. Here, we present the use of a narrow-linewidth, high-power fiber laser with a highly stable and precisely tunable wavelength at 2 μm for gas absorption. It was a master oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) structure, consisting of a narrow-linewidth fiber seed and two stages of Thulium-doped fiber amplifiers (TDFAs). The seed wavelength was very stable and was precisely tuned from 1971.4 to 1971.8 nm by temperature. Both stages of the amplifiers were forward-pumping, and a maximum output power of 24.8 W was obtained, with a slope efficiency of about 50.5%. The measured laser linewidth was much narrower than the gas absorption linewidth and the wavelength stability was validated by HBr gas absorption in HCFs. If the seed is replaced, this MOPA laser can provide a versatile pump source for mid-infrared fiber gas lasers.

Fiber lasers operating at 1.7 μm have significant application value in fields such as gas detection and material processing due to their characteristics, including compact structure and ease of thermal management. Based on the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of gas molecules in hollow-core fibers (HCFs), fiber gas Raman lasers (FGRLs) are a novel and effective method for generating 1.7 μm fiber lasers. We report here, to the best of our knowledge, the first FGRL based on the anti-resonant hollow-core fiber (AR-HCF) filled with sulfur hexafluoride (SF[sub.6]) molecules. A nanosecond pulsed fiber amplifier tunable from 1540 to 1560 nm was used to pump a 17.8-m-long AR-HCF filled with SF[sub.6] molecules. By virtue of the vibrational SRS of SF[sub.6] molecules, laser output in the range of 1748–1774 nm was achieved. At a gas pressure of 15 bar, a maximum average power output of ~3 W was obtained, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of ~22%. The output linewidth of the Raman laser was measured to be approximately 2.1 GHz using a Fabry–Pérot (F-P) scanning interferometer. The research results enriched the methods for 1.7 μm fiber laser output.

Fiber lasers operating at 2.8 μm have important applications in fields such as polymer material processing and medical surgery. Fiber gas lasers (FGLs) based on stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in hollow-core fibers (HCFs) provide a superior approach to generating tunable, high-power laser at 2.8 μm. Here, we demonstrated a watt-level mid-infrared FGL with a tuning range from 2812 nm to 2862 nm by the SRS of methane molecules in a 26.7 m long HCF. By pumping with a tunable pulsed fiber amplifier at 1.5 μm, an average output power of approximately 1 W was obtained, with a low Raman threshold peak power of 1.7 kW. Additionally, we observed transverse mode instability (TMI) in the HCFs, which has rarely been reported previously, and propose that the TMI was caused by the thermal effect generated when methane molecules absorbed the pump laser. This work achieved both the wavelength flexibility and watt-level power of FGLs based on methane-filled HCFs in the 2.8 μm waveband. It also found that the TMI was a key factor limiting further improvement in output power. This work provides important experimental basis and optimization directions for the future realization of higher-power tunable fiber lasers in the 2.8 μm waveband.

We report here a high-power, highly efficient, wavelength-tunable nanosecond pulsed 1.7 μm fiber laser based on hydrogen-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) by rotational stimulated Raman scattering. When a 9-meter-long HC-PCF filled with 30 bar hydrogen is pumped by a homemade tunable 1.5 μm pulsed fiber amplifier, the maximum average Stokes power of 3.3 W at 1705 nm is obtained with a slope efficiency of 84%, and the slope efficiency achieves the highest recorded value for 1.7 μm pulsed fiber lasers. When the pump pulse repetition frequency is 1.3 MHz with a pulse width of approximately 15 ns, the average output power is higher than 3 W over the whole wavelength tunable range from 1693 nm to 1705 nm, and the slope efficiency is higher than 80%. A steady-state theoretical model is used to achieve the maximum Stokes power in hydrogen-filled HC-PCFs, and the simulation results accord well with the experiments. This work presents a new opportunity for highly efficient tunable pulsed fiber lasers at the 1.7 μm band.

Recent years have witnessed significant advancements in hollow-core fiber gas lasers (HCFGLs), driven by developments in hollow-core fiber (HCF) design and fabrication. These novel lasers are characterized by hollow-core structure, providing an ultralong and tiny interaction region for light and gases, thereby enabling light amplification with high efficiency, high beam quality, and tunability. HCFGLs has achieved broadband emission spanning from ultraviolet to mid-infrared (MIR) region, with a record output wavelength exceeding 4.8 μm in silica-based fiber lasers. Output power has surpassed 100 W in the near-infrared and reached an impressive 21.8 W in the MIR region. With the continuing reduction of attenuation in HCFs, particularly in the MIR regime, HCFGLs holds promises for potential applications in trace gas detection, space communication, polymer processing, medical treatment, national defense, etc. In this review, we focus on the basic principles and research progress of HCFGLs. The paradigm shifts history of HCFs are reviewed first. The development history and representative works of HCFGL based on the population inversion and stimulated Raman scattering are then introduced in detail. Finally, the future trends toward power enhancement, spectral expansion, and practical applications are also outlined. We hope this review will provide valuable insights for HCFGL researchers and interested readers, while also offering potential pathways to achieve otherwise challenging laser wavelength outputs and further power scaling.

Hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) provide an ideal transmission medium and experimental platform for laser–matter interaction. Here, we report a cascaded all-fiber gas Raman laser based on deuterium (D2)-filled HC-PCFs. D2 is sealed into a gas cavity formed by a 49 m-long HC-PCF and solid-core fibers, and two homemade fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with the Raman and pump wavelength, respectively, are further introduced. When pumped by a pulsed fiber amplifier at 1540 nm, the pure rotational stimulated Raman scattering of D2 occurs inside the cavity. The first-order Raman laser at 1645 nm can be obtained, realizing a maximum power of ~0.8 W. An all-fiber cascaded gas Raman laser oscillator is achieved by adding another 1645 nm high-reflectivity FBG at the output end of the cavity, reducing the peak power of the cascaded Raman threshold by 11.4%. The maximum cascaded Raman power of ~0.5 W is obtained when the pump source is at its maximum, and the corresponding conversion efficiency inside the cavity is 21.4%, which is 1.8 times that of the previous configuration. Moreover, the characteristics of the second-order Raman lasers at 1695 nm and 1730 nm are also studied thoroughly. This work provides a significant method for realizing all-fiber cascaded gas Raman lasers, which is beneficial for expanding the output wavelength of fiber gas lasers with a good stability and compactivity.

Fiber lasers around 2 µm band have attractive applications, such as coherent detecting, material processing, pump source for mid-IR lasers based on nonlinear frequency shift, etc. Fiber gas Raman lasers (FGRLs) based on the stimulated Raman scattering of the gas molecules filled in the hollow-core fibers (HCFs) have been proved an efficient method to enrich the wavelengths of fiber lasers. In this paper, we demonstrated a deuterium-filled fiber gas Raman laser working at 2147 nm. The pump laser is directly coupled into the HCF through the fusion splice between the HCF and the solid-core fiber. By adjusting the pressure, fiber length as well as the repetition frequency of the 1971 nm pump laser, a maximum average Raman power of ~2.57 W was obtained, with corresponding efficiency of ~40%. This work provides a simple and compact configuration for 2.1 µm fiber lasers, which is significant for their application.