a b s t r a c t sСore-clad bers on the basis of high-purity 1300 ppmw Pr(3+ )-doped Ga-Ge-As-Se and 2000 ppmw Pr(3+ )-doped In-Ge-As-Se-I glasses have been prepared. The minimum optical losses of the bers are at the level of 1 dB/m in the w avelength range, w here there is no in uence of the praseodym ium absorption. At present, it is the best result obtained for core-clad rare-earth-doped chalcogenide bers w ith high dopant concentration. The bers exhibit the broadband luminescence in the spect ral range of 3.5 -5.5 m. The values of luminescence lifetime at the w avelength of 4.7 m are w ithin 6.5-8.2 ms closed to those for the bulk glasses obtained previously. Simulation of laser properties for these core-clad bers in the three-level cascade scheme w as carried out. The low level of optical losses experimentally achieved in these bers is one of main criteria for development of mid-IR ber systems.
Int r oduct i onChalcogenide glasses (ChG) doped w ith rare earth elements (REE) are w idely discussed in the scienti c literature regarding the possibility of their using for creation of middle infrared (mid-IR) ber lasers and ampli ers. At present, laser ber materials for the spectral region beyond 3.9 m have not been experimentally developed. So, ChGs are of current interest due to their characteristics, such as low phonon energies (dow n to 350 cm -1 ), high transparency in the mid-IR range, potential ultra low optical losses, an ability to dissolve the rare earth elements, as w ell as the high calculated values of the quantum ef ciency and lasing slope ef ciency. To characterize the laser ber materials, the quantum ef ciency determined as a ratio betw een experimental and calculated values of emission lifetime, the lasing slope ef ciency, and the threshold pow er are used to be considered. These characteristics have been evaluated by numerical simulations for the number of chalcogenide multi-component glasses doped w ith REE, taking into consideration the different pump parameters [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Data show ed the high values of quantum ef ciency (up to 100%) and the lasing slope ef- ciency (up to 54%) of these glasses for the mid-IR range.The main advantages of selenide chalcogenide glasses, as potential laser media, are low phonon energy values (230-300 cm -1 ), the possibility to incorporate the rare earth elements in relatively high concentration (thousands of ppm), high values of refractive index (2.6-2.9, depending on glass composition), and, as a consequence, the high values of absorption cross section at the pump w avelength. The set of these properties of ChGs had predetermined a choice of research subjects here, namely, Pr(3+ )-doped Ga(In)-Ge-As-Se glasses and bers as the materials promising for mid IR-range.Due to the need to prepare ber laser materials w ith low optical losses, the main focus had been done on the development of ChGs w ith a low content of limiting impurities w hich have negative in- uence on the spectral characteristics of glasses in the range of ...