A device having a clad layer pump fiber laser

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A cladding pumped optical fiber laser (40) comprises a length of optical fiber having a rare earth-doped region of diameter dRE > d01, where d01 is the mode diameter of the LP01 mode of the fiber at the laser radiation at wavelength λ. In one embodiment the fiber has a core diameter dc selected such that the LP01 mode is the only guided spatial mode of the fiber, and dRE is greater than dc. In another embodiment the fiber supports at least one higher order guided spatial mode, typically LP11 or LP02, and dRE is approximately equal to or larger than dc. Currently preferred embodiments comprise a grating-defined laser cavity that comprises a mode-coupling refractive index grating (45). Cladding pumped lasers according to the invention will typically have efficient conversion of pump radiation to laser radiation, and consequently can typically be shorter than analogous prior art cladding pumped lasers.