Materials for erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

Technical Report · Fri May 22 04:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:7161948

Miniscalco, W J

Fiber offers an extremely favorable geometry for optical devices, and fiber lasers (1) and amplifiers 21 were reported only shortly after the first bulk glass laser 3. The choice of host composition has always been an important consideration. Silicates are the oldest and best understood glasses, and the first glass lasers used silicate compositions selected for high rare earth solubility and long lifetimes for the metastable state. The use of phosphate glass significantly improved the performance of early bulk Er3+ lasers (4) and it has become the most common host for bulk glass lasers doped with Er3+ and Nd3+. Although outstanding performance has been achieved using single-mode silica fiber, silica is a poor host for most activator ions, particularly rare earths. The influence of glass composition on the properties of Er3+ fiber amplifiers will be considered with particular emphasis placed upon silica; a more detailed discussion can be found in Ref. 5.

• Research Organization: GTE Labs., Inc., Waltham, MA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7161948
• Report Number(s): AD-P-006982/3/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
426002* -- Engineering-- Lasers & Masers-- (1990-)
AMPLIFIERS
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FIBERS
GEOMETRY
GLASS
IONS
LASER MATERIALS
LASERS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICS
OPTICAL EQUIPMENT
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PHOSPHATE GLASS
SILICATES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SOLID STATE LASERS
SOLUBILITY