Over 100 W ultra-flat broadband short-wave infrared supercontinuum generation in a thulium-doped fiber amplifier.

An ultra-flat high-power short-wave infrared super-continuum (SC) source generated in an all-fiber thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) is reported. The SC had a high-spectral flatness with a 10 dB spectral bandwidth spanning from 1970 to 2431 nm and a power spectral density >23  dBm/nm. The output SC beam had Gaussian-shape profiles with a maximum average power of 101.6 W, a SC pulse repetition rate of 2 MHz, and a temporal duration of ∼5  ns. Benefiting from the high duty cycle of the 2 μm seed pulses, the power conversion efficiency from the 793 nm pump light to the maximal SC output power in the TDFA was as high as 35.4%, and the slope efficiency of the TDFA was linearly fitted to be 36.5%. Long-term high-power operation of the SC source showed its outstanding temporal stability. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the results obtained in this Letter represent a new power record for ultra-flat SC in the short-wave infrared region.