Materials for optical fiber lasers: A review

Abstract

Over the past two decades, fiber laser technologies have matured to such an extent that they have captured a large portion of the commercial laser marketplace. Yet, there still is a seemingly unquenchable thirst for ever greater optical power to levels where certain deleterious light-matter interactions that limit continued power scaling become significant. In the past decade or so, the industry has focused mainly on waveguide engineering to overcome many of these hurdles. However, there is an emerging body of work emphasizing the enabling role of the material. In an effort to underpin these developments, this paper reviews the relevance of the material in high power fiber laser technologies. As the durable material-of-choice for the application, the discussion will mainly be limited to silicate host glasses. The discussion presented herein follows an outward path, starting with the trivalent rare earth ions and their spectroscopic properties. The ion then is placed into a host, whose impact on the spectroscopy is reviewed. Finally, adverse interactions between the laser lightwave and the host are discussed, and novel composition glass fiber design and fabrication methodologies are presented. With deference to the symbiosis required between material and waveguide engineering in active fiber development, this review will emphasize the former. Specifically, where appropriate, materials-based paths to the enhancement of laser performance will be underscored.

On the Effect of Low Temperatures on the Maximum Output Power of a Coherent Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier

“…Historically, silica fibers have been used for EDFA because of their immediate compatibility (fabrication, splicing...) with the low absorption fibers used for longdistance telecommunications. Since this technological leap, many other glasses or doping methods were investigated [7], [18], [22], [29], [40], [41] to reduce the SBS gain or improve the laser amplification efficiency, but few experiments have demonstrated a positive combination on these two parameters.…”

Nano-Structured Optical Fibers Made of Glass-Ceramics, and Phase Separated and Metallic Particle-Containing Glasses

“…This approach provides a host lattice structure for rare-earth ions and specified, tuneable luminescence properties [88]. In this approach, the glass is prepared with active nanoparticles, so the rare-earth ions are uninfluenced from the host network [89]. Such glass combines the low cost and the mechanical stability of the glass and the augmented luminescence properties of the NPs.…”

Systematic investigation of composition effects on the radiation-induced attenuation mechanisms of aluminosilicate, Yb-doped silicate, Yb- and Yb,Ce-doped aluminosilicate fiber preforms [Invited]

“…An interplay has been demonstrated and PD-related CCs were shown to be the same as part of those involved in RIA [6,7]. An expression of these shared origins lies in the fact that both degradation types are efficiently mitigated by cerium (Ce) co-doping [2,[8][9][10][11][12]. This empirical recipe has enabled the fabrication of commercially-available radiation-and PD-resistant fibers, but it did not put an end to the quest for the elucidation of PD and RIA mechanisms.…”

“…The optical fiber technology has permitted to design high-power fiber laser sources [1,2] and offered novel metrological opportunities for the distributed sensing of temperature, pressure, strain or radiation doses [3]. Both application fields have however to deal with the formation of silica-or dopant-related color centers (CCs) which cause excess optical losses from the ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) down to the near-infrared (NIR) optical ranges.…”

“…It is referred to as photodarkening or PD (see e.g. [2] for a recent review). Fiber-based sensors rather use passive fibers, but they are often intended for the remote monitoring of harsh radiative environments (Ref.…”