Review on recent progress on Yb-doped fiber laser in a variety of oscillation spectral ranges

We present review on recent progress on high power Yb-doped fiber laser in a variety of oscillation spectral ranges. According to Kurkov (Laser Phys. Lett. 2006), the oscillation spectral range of YDFLs can be divided into three bands: convenient (C-band), short (S-band), and long (L-band). For the C-band YDFL, tandem-pumped high power radiation by using 1018 nm fiber laser or 1030 nm thin-disk laser is reviewed. For the S-band YDFL, three mainly technical solutions, i.e., special designed fiber, the employment of photonic crystal fiber (PCF), and tandem pumping using 930 nm Nd-doped fiber laser are presented. For the L-band laser, active heating or self-heating the active fiber can help the long-wavelength oscillation. Fiber Raman laser or amplifier can also boost the power of L-band YDFL up. Some discussions and prospective predictions are proposed at the end of this paper.