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BGO single crystals doped with Er3+, Tm3+ and Ho3+ rare-earth ions were prepared in the form of rod-type crystal fibers via the micro-pulling down technique to perform an extensive investigation of their visible, near- and mid-infrared luminescence properties and to really decide on their interest as solid-state laser media in the various spectral domains. Revisiting and completing the absorption spectra already available in the literature led to the derivation of more reliable "effective" radiative lifetimes and branching ratios. Registration of the fluorescence decays of the most important emitting levels versus dopant concentrations led for the first time to an unambiguous determination of "intrinsic" emission lifetimes – corresponding to negligible contributions from inter-ionic energy-transfers - and non-radiative multiphonon relaxation rates. Such data also allowed for the determination of the dominant phonon energy which comes into play in the electron-phonon coupling responsible for these multiphonon relaxation processes and for its lattice vibration origin, i.e. a high phonon energy of the order of 820 cm−1 corresponding to the coupling between bending vibrations of (GeO 4)4- tetrahedra and vibrations corresponding to motions of these (GeO 4)4- tetrahedra against the Bi3+ ions for which the rare-earth dopant ions substitute. Using the above data and different methods for the calibration of the registered emission spectra in cross section unit and for the derivation of gain cross section curves finally show that mid-infrared emissions of Er:BGO, Tm:BGO and Ho:BGO around 1.55 μm, 1.9 μm and 2 μm, respectively, occur with comparable gain cross sections as in the most important reference mid-infrared laser materials, although over slightly shifted thus complementary spectral domains. It is shown that potentialities also exist with Tm:BGO in the blue, deep-red and near-infrared spectral domains around 470 nm, 800 nm and 1.45 μm, by pumping the crystals with conventional pump sources and using some suitable co-dopants to avoid detrimental self-terminating processes. • Bi 4 Ge 3 O 12 rod-type crystal fibers doped with Er3+, Tm3+ and Ho3+ ions are successfully grown by using the micro-pulling down technique. • An extensive spectroscopic investigation is performed from the near-UV to the mid-infrared. • Effective radiative and intrinsic emission lifetimes are unambiguously determined for all the important emitting levels. • The origin and the energy of the phonons responsible for the non-radiative multiphonon relaxation of the emitting levels are clearly identified. • Emission and gain cross section spectra show the interest of Er3+, Tm3+ and Ho3+ doped BGO crystals for the high power mid-infrared laser application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The stable CW ML pulsed with pulse duration as short as 1.97 ps was experimentally obtained. • We proved it experimentally that under the increasing saturation parameters , output pulses could be narrowed in the steady state cavity. • We used the generalized Ginzburg-Landau equation for the mode-locked pulse dynamic evolutions. • We showed that the pulse-narrowing mechanism in solid-state cavity at water absorption band. Ultrafast solid-state laser sources operating in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) region are of significant importance in a variety of applications. However, the realization of ultrafast lasers with narrow pulse width at wavelengths between 1.8 and 2 µm has remained a big challenge due to the strong water molecule absorption. Here, we report a stable mode-locking (ML) pulsed lasing at 1967 nm and narrow pulse duration of 1.97 ps in a diode-pumped Tm:CaYAlO 4 (Tm:CYA) crystal laser oscillator. By employing the SESAMs with different modulation depths as mode-lockers, we show that under the increasing saturation parameters, output pulses could be narrowed in the steady state cavity. Furtherly, the generalized Ginzburg-Landau equation is used for the mode-locked pulse dynamic evolutions. It shows that the pulse- regulation mechanism in solid-state cavity at water absorption band is governed by the balance of the laser gain, the modulation depth, and the saturation parameter. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of pulse regulation mechanism in the 2 μm water absorption band by a commercial laser diode in a Tm:CYA laser. Our results provide an effective method for pulse regulation of ultra-short mid-IR pulses and even few-cycle pulses with controllable optical spectra in the water absorption band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]