Optimization of erbium-doped actively Q-switched fiber laser implemented in symmetric configuration

We report the results of an experimental study aimed at improving the performance of actively Q-switched fiber lasers. Unlike generic design schemes employing photonic crystal fibers, largemodal diameter fibers or double-clad fibers, we demonstrate a high-power, actively Q-switched laser based on standard com- munication erbium doped fibers with peak irradiance beyond the state-of-the-art at 3.1 GW/cm2 . The laser had 2.2 kW peak power, 15.5 ns pulse duration and 36.8 µJ pulse energy. We have also investigated the dynamics of pulse generation and have success- fully suppressed pulse instabilities caused by backscattered laser emission reaching the pump laser diodes.

Silica-clad neodymium-doped lanthanum phosphate fibers and fiber lasers

We have fabricated a neodymium-doped phosphate glass fiber with a silica cladding and used it to form a fiber laser. Phosphate and silicate glasses have considerably different glass transition temperatures and softening points making it hard to draw a fiber from these two glasses. A bulk phosphate glass of composition (Nd2O3)(0.011)(La2O3)(0.259)(P2O5)(0.725)(Al2O3)(0.005) was prepared and the resultant material was transparent, free from bubbles and visibly homogeneous. The bulk phosphate glass was drawn to a fiber while being jacketed with silica and the resultant structure was of good optical quality, free from air bubbles and major defects. The attenuation at a wavelength of 1.06 mu m was 0.05 dB/cm and the refractive index of the core and cladding at the pump wavelength of 488 nm was 1.56 and 1.46, respectively. The fibers were mechanically strong enough to allow for ease of handling and could be spliced to conventional silica fiber. The fibers were used to demonstrate lasing at the F-4(3/2) - I-4(11/2) (1.06 mu m) transition. Our work demonstrates the potential to form silica clad optical fibers with phosphate cores doped with very high levels of rare-earth ions (27-mol % rare-earth oxide).

Non-linear temperature response of Bragg gratings in doped and un-doped holey polymer optical fibre

We present measurements on the non-linear temperature response of fibre Bragg gratings recorded in pure and trans-4-stilbenemethanol-doped polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) holey fibres.

Optimal span length in high-speed transmission systems with hybrid Raman-erbium-doped fiber amplification

We show, using nonlinearity management, that the optimal performance in high-bit-rate dispersion-managed fiber systems with hybrid amplification is achieved for a specific amplifier spacing that is different from the asymptotically vanishing length corresponding to ideally distributed amplification [Opt. Lett. 15, 1064 (1990)]. In particular, we prove the existence of a nontrivial optimal span length for 40-Gbit/s wavelength-division transmission systems with Raman-erbium-doped fiber amplification. Optimal amplifier lengths are obtained for several dispersion maps based on commonly used transmission fibers. © 2005 Optical Society of America.

Non-linear temperature response of Bragg gratings in doped and un-doped holey polymer optical fibre

We present measurements on the non-linear temperature response of fibre Bragg gratings recorded in pure and trans-4-stilbenemethanol-doped polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) holey fibres.

Higher-order femtosecond solitons generation in a hybrid mode-locked Tm-doped fibre laser

A thulium-doped all-fibre laser hybrid mode-locked by the co-action of nonlinear polarization evolution and single-walled carbon nanotubes generating 500-fs high-order solitons with the pulse energy 10.87 nJ at 1.9 μm wavelength band is demonstrated. © 2014 OSA.

Raman gain and random distributed feedback generation in nitrogen doped silica core fiber

Recently, the concept of a random distributed feedback (DFB) lasing in optical fibers has been demonstrated [1], A number of different random DFB fiber lasers has been demonstrated so far including tunable, multiwalength, cascaded generation, generation in different spectral bands etc [2-7]. All systems are based on standard low-loss germanium doped silica core fibres having relatively low Rayleigh scattering coefficient. Thus, the typical length of random DFB fiber lasers is in the range from several kilometres to tens of kilometres to accumulate enough random feedback. Here we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge the random DFB fiber laser based on a nitrogen doped silica core (N-doped) fiber. The fiber has several times higher Rayleigh scattering coefficient compared to standard telecommunication fibres. Thus, the generation is achieved in 500 meters long fiber only. © 2013 IEEE.

Luminescence of delafossite-type CuAlO2 fibers with Eu substitution for Al cations

CuAlO2 has been examined as a potential luminescent material by substituting Eu for Al cations in the delafossite structure. CuAlO2:Eu3+ nanofibers have been prepared via electrospinning for the ease of mitigating synthesis requirements and for future optoelectronics and emerging applications. Single-phase CuAlO2 fibers could be obtained at a temperature of 1100 °C in air. The Eu was successfully doped in the delafossite structure and two strong emission bands at ~405 and 610 nm were observed in the photoluminescence spectra. These bands are due to the intrinsic near-band-edge transition of CuAlO2 and the f-f transition of the Eu3+ activator, respectively. Further electrical characterization indicated that these fibers exhibit semiconducting behavior and the introduction of Eu could act as band-edge modifiers, thus changing the thermal activation energies. In light of this study, CuAlO2:Eu3+ fibers with both strong photoluminescence and p-type conductivity could be produced by tailoring the rare earth doping concentrations.