High-Power 2-4.8 μm Supercontinuum Laser Generation in Precisely Tapered Fluorotellurite Fiber

The unique characteristics of 2-5 μm mid-infrared supercontinuum (SC) lasers, making them ideal tools for a wide range of applications. However, conventional technical approaches face significant challenges in generating high-power mid-infrared SC lasers beyond the 4 μm band through a single mid-infrared fiber, which substantially limits the practical applications of mid-infrared SC light sources. Precise tapering enables flexible manipulation of fiber nonlinearity and dispersion, optimizing both output power and spectral bandwidth for enhanced SC generation. This paper presents a 10.08 W all-fiber mid-infrared SC light source based on tapered fluorotellurite fiber. Compared to its untapered counterpart, the tapered fluorotellurite fiber achieved a 1500 nm long-wavelength extension with a spectral range of 2-4.8 μm at 10.08 W. Notably, the power fraction beyond 3000 nm increased sevenfold, from 4% to 30%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an all-fiber high-power mid-infrared SC source with the widest spectral range based on tapered fluorotellurite fiber.