Towards a monolithic fiber laser with deep UV femtosecond-induced fiber Bragg gratings

Fiber Bragg grating inscription with a deep ultraviolet (DUV) femtosecond laser and two-beam interferometry allows grating inscription in germanium-free fibers without classical UV photosensitivity. Therefore such a writing technology is a promising solution for the fabrication of fiber Bragg gratings in the active fiber material to realize a fully integrated all-fiber solution. In this paper we report on the use of the DUV femtosecond laser fiber Bragg grating technology to build a grating-stabilized fiber laser with high spectral purity. Output powers up to 158 W at 1083 nm and a slope efficiency of 76% have been demonstrated. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.