A 980 nm Yb-doped single-mode fibre laser with 946 nm Nd:YAG laser as pump source

Based on rate equations, this paper gives expressions of the output power, the pump power threshold, the slope efficiency, the fibre optimal length and the laser gain of a quasi-three-level Yb-doped fibre laser. The gain relationship between quasi-three-level system and four-level system is also given, which provides a theoretical basis for suppressing the four-level transmissions. In the experiment, we adopt the backward pumping configuration and use a linear cavity. The Yb-doped fibre laser has an output power of 372 mW of single-mode laser emission at 980 nm with a slope efficiency of 21.2% when the fibre length is 29.5 cm close to an optimal fibre length in theory. The experimental results accord well with the theoretical analyses.