Abstract

Introduction High power erbium-doped fiber amplifiers have many important applications. A key element for practical implementations is the availability of high power pump lasers efficiently coupled to single mode optical fiber. We have used fiber coupled tapered-gain-region semiconductor laser pumps at 975 nm to achieve 0.7 W of power at 1.5 μm using conventional erbium-doped fiber. This represents a significant advance over previous results because it avoids the use of Ti: Al₂O₃ lasers, which are not practical pump sources for many applications, and because direct pumping with conventional erbium fiber is more efficient than designs using co-doped fiber.

© 1994 Optical Society of America