Stable high-spectral-flatness mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in Tm-doped fiber amplifier

We demonstrate a stable high-spectral-flatness mid-infrared (mid-IR) supercontinuum (SC) generation in a thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) with an average output power of 2.32 W in a spectral band of ∼(1875-2700 nm). A 1550 nm distributed feedback (DFB) pulsed laser diode (LD) with repetition rate of 600 kHz and pulse width of 900 ps was used as the seed source. The measured long term stability of SC output power is less than 1.1% rms (root mean square) at the average output power of 2.32 W. The measured slope efficiency from the 793 nm pump power of the TDFA to the total SC output power is ∼14%. The output SC has a 6 dB spectral flatness in the wavelength ranging from 1955 to 2505 nm (550 nm span) at the average output power of 2.32 W.