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We report the compact and robust coherent source operating in mid-IR based on Fe:ZnSe chalcogenide gain medium optically pumped by Er:ZBLAN fiber laser. The output power of 2.1 W with 59% slope efficiency with respect to absorbed pump power at liquid nitrogen cooling is achieved. We show that strong re-absorption at high pump power and iron ion doping concentrations leads to the continuous tuning of central wavelength from 4012 to 4198 nm. Robustness of high power Er:ZBLAN fiber laser combined with prominent spectroscopic properties of Fe:ZnSe media pave the way for the development of reliable tunable CW mid-IR sources for scientific and industrial purposes.

Using shadow photography, we observed microsecond time scale evolution of multiple cavitation bubbles, excited by tighty focused femtosecond laser pulse in water under supercritical power regime (~100 Pcr). In these extreme conditions high energy delivery into the microvolume of liquid sample leads to creation of single filament which becomes a source of cavitation region formation. When aberrations were added to the optical scheme the hot spots along the filament axis are formed. At high energies (more than 40uJ) filaments in these hot spots are fired and, as a result, complex pattern of cavitation bubbles is created. The bubbles can be isolated from each other or build exotic drop-shaped cavitation region, which evolution at the end of its life, before the final collapse, contains the jet emission. The dynamics of the cavitation pattern was investigated from pulse energy and focusing. We found that greater numerical aperture of the focusing optics leads to greater cavitation area length. The strong interaction between bubbles was also observed. This leads to a significant change of bubble evolution, which is not yet in accordance with Rayleigh model., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Using shadow photography technique we have observed shock acoustic wave from optical breakdown, excited in water by tightly focused Cr:Forsterite femtosecond laser beam, and have found two different regimes of shock wave generation by varying only the energy of laser pulse. At low energies a single spherical shock wave is generated from laser beam waist, and its radius tends to saturation with energy increasing. At higher energies long laser filament in water is fired, that leads to the cylindrical shock wave generation, which longitude increases logarithmically with laser pulse energy. From shadow pictures we estimated maximal velocity in front or shock wave of 2300+/-150m/s and pressure of 1.0+/-0.1 GPa