Gilberto ANZUETO-SÁNCHEZ, Alejandro MARTÍNEZ-RIOS, Ismael TORRES-GÓMEZ, Daniel CEBALLOS-HERRERA, Romeo SELVAS-AGUILAR¹, and Victor DURAN-RAMIREZ²

Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica A.C., León, Guanajuato 37150, México
¹Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, UANL, Cd. Universitaria, N.L. 66450, México
²Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de los Lagos, Jalisco 47460, México

(Received August 23, 2006; Accepted November 24, 2006)

We describe a tunable double-clad Yb-doped fiber laser based on a long period fiber grating mechanically induced in a section of single mode holey fiber inserted into the laser cavity. The mechanically induced long period holey fiber grating acts as a wavelength-selective fiber filter whose central wavelength, linewidth, and strength can be tuned by changing the period, the length of the grating, and the applied pressure. The fiber laser gives a ∼12.6 nm tuning range, from ∼1079.4 –1092 nm, with slope efficiencies of 18.7–26.3% at this wavelength range, with respect to the launched pump power.

Key words: double-clad fiber laser, long period grating, wavelength tuning, ytterbium-doped fiber, holey fiber