Recent Advances in Mid-Infrared Fluoroindate Fiber Lasers

Fluoroindate glasses have been the subject of considerable research efforts in recent years, due to their interesting properties for mid-infrared laser emission at wavelengths above 3 μm. Compared to other glasses, e.g. ZBLAN glasses, they offer a lower phonon energy and a better thermal stability and they can host dopant concentrations as high as 10 mol%. The purpose of this review is to illustrate some of the latest examples of rare-earth-doped fluoroindate fiber lasers, operating in both continuous-wave and pulsed regimes. Details about the theoretical models, the pumping schemes, the experimental setups, and the performance in terms of output power and slope efficiency are extensively discussed.