Novel laser sources in the mid-Infrared

Recent experiments involving long-wavelength fiber lasers and nonlinear media are presented. An optical fiber taper made from Chalcogenide glass that produced an octave-spanning spectrum (1-2 μm) at ultralow pump pulse energy (77 pJ) is presented. To translate these tapered fiber devices to the mid-Infrared range, we have explored several novel fiber laser configurations. Here, we recent work using a Holmium-doped fluoride fiber laser operating at 2.86 μm. A GaAs-based SESAM allows for passive mode-locking with 20 ps pulse durations. This system and its applications for nonlinear optics in the mid-infrared wavelength range are covered.