Abstract

A novel hybrid fiber taper is proposed and demonstrated as the coupler in a microsphere laser system. The pump wave and the laser emission, respectively, are more efficiently coupled to and from the sphere modes with this taper structure. A 980-nm pumped erbium–ytterbium codoped phosphate microsphere laser is demonstrated in the 1550-nm band. As much as $112 \mu \mathrm{W}$ of single-frequency laser output power was measured, with a differential quantum efficiency of 12%.

© 2001 Optical Society of America

Fiber-coupled microsphere laser

M. Cai, O. Painter, K. J. Vahala, and P. C. Sercel
Opt. Lett. 25(19) 1430-1432 (2000)

Whispering-gallery-mode laser at 1.56 μm excited by a fiber taper

F. Lissillour, D. Messager, G. Stéphan, and P. Féron
Opt. Lett. 26(14) 1051-1053 (2001)

Miniature all-fiber devices based on CO₂ laser microstructuring of tapered fibers

G. Kakarantzas, T. E. Dimmick, T. A. Birks, R. Le Roux, and P. St. J. Russell
Opt. Lett. 26(15) 1137-1139 (2001)

Pigtailing the high-Q microsphere cavity:?a simple fiber coupler for optical whispering-gallery modes

Vladimir S. Ilchenko, X. Steve Yao, and Lute Maleki
Opt. Lett. 24(11) 723-725 (1999)

Optical bistability of stimulated-emission lines in Sm³⁺-doped glass microspheres

Tomokatsu Hayakawa, Hiroyuki Ooishi, and Masayuki Nogami
Opt. Lett. 26(2) 84-86 (2001)