Mode-locked 2.8-μm fluoride fiber laser:from soliton to breathing pulse

The mode-locked fluoride fiber laser(MLFFL)is an exciting platform for directly generating ultrashort pulses in the mid-infrared(mid-IR).However,owing to difficulty in managing the dispersion in fluoride fiber lasers,MLFFLs are restricted to the soliton regime,hindering pulse-energy scaling.We overcame the problem of dispersion management by utilizing the huge normal dispersion generated near the absorption edge of an infrared-bandgap semiconductor and promoted MLFFL from soliton to breathing-pulse mode-locking.In the breathing-pulse regime,the accumulated nonlinear phase shift can be significantly reduced in the cavity,and the pulse-energy-limitation effect is mitigated.The breathing-pulse MLFFL directly produced a pulse energy of 9.3 nJ and pulse duration of 215 fs,with a record peak power of 43.3 kW at 2.8μm.Our work paves the way for the pulse-energy and peak-power scaling of mid-IR fluoride fiber lasers,enabling a wide range of applications.