Model and Characteristics of Self-Pulsing in Tm^3+-Doped Silica Fiber Lasers.

In this paper, a theoretical model, taking into account the phonon-assisted excited-state absorption process \left(^3H5\rightarrow{^{3H4}}\right), has been constructed to explain the self-pulsing (SP) phenomenon in the Tm^3+-doped fiber lasers. Both numerical simulation and experimental investigation on the SP characteristics of \sim2\-\mum~Tm^3+-doped fiber lasers have been carried out. The numerical simulation shows agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, the impacts of output coupling, pump intensity, and Tm^3+-ion doping concentration on the SP characteristics of the Tm^3+-doped fiber lasers have been studied explicitly, and optimization of the SP features has been discussed. In addition, the potential applications of SP in fiber lasers or solid-state lasers have also been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]