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Germania and alumina dopant diffusion and viscous flow effects at preparation of doped optical fibers
We report on germania and alumina dopant profile shift effects at preparation of compact optical fibers using packaging methods (Stack-and-Draw method, Rod-in-Tube (RiT) technique). The sintering of package hollow volume by viscous flow results in a shift of the core-pitch ratio in all-solid microstructured fibers. The ratio is increased by about 5% in the case of a hexagonal package. The shift by diffusion effects of both dopants is simulated for typical slow speed drawing parameters. Thermodynamic approximations of surface dissociation of germania doped silica suggest the need of an adequate undoped silica barrier layer to prevent an undesired bubble formation at fiber drawing. In contrast, alumina doping does not estimate critical dissociation effects with vaporous aluminium oxide components. We report guide values of diffusion length of germania and alumina for the drawing process by kinetic approximation. The germania diffusion involves a small core enlargement, typically in the sub-micrometer scale. Though, the alumina diffusion enlarges it by a few micrometers. A drawn pure alumina preform core rod transforms to an amorphous aluminosilicate core with a molar alumina concentration of only about 50% and a non-gaussian concentration profile.
Extruded suspended core fibers from lanthanum-aluminum-silicate glass
We report the use of the extrusion technique at highest temperatures to date (975 °C-1000 °C) for the fabrication of suspended core fibers (SCFs) from glass with molar composition 65 SiO2-20 Al2O3-15 La2O3 (SAL65). Through adjusting die design and fabrication conditions, extruded preforms for fibers with two different core sizes (1.2 µm and 3.1 µm) were successfully produced. Cross-sectional microstructure and material loss of these fibers highlight the potential of the extrusion technique for fabrication of microstructured optical fibers from glasses with high softening temperature and thus high thermal and mechanical stability. © 2020. All rights reserved.
(INVITED)Tm:YAG crystal-derived double-clad fibers – A hybrid approach towards high gain and high efficiency Tm lasers
The hybrid approach of combining a Tm:YAG laser crystal with an amorphous fused silica tube is investigated to evaluate the suitability of the resulting crystal-derived fibers for efficient double-clad fiber lasers. The fabrication process and fiber properties of these Tm fibers are investigated, focusing on the dependence of the active fiber properties on the incorporated Tm3+ concentration. Crystal rods with different doping concentrations (TmxY1-x)3Al5O12 (x = 0.02, 0.05 and 0.08) were used as starting core material for fiber drawing. The investigated fibers are mechanically stable and result in a fairly homogenous and amorphous core glass with optical absorption and emission spectra that are similar to conventional Tm:Al doped silica fibers. Regarding laser properties with 790 nm cladding pumping, we could achieve a maximum slope efficiency of 47% with an output power of 4 W. The fiber laser results are compared to a conventionally fabricated double-clad Tm fiber prepared by Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition and solution doping. To the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate the highest laser output and the highest efficiency obtained from a Tm:YAG crystal-derived fiber.
Photoluminescence at room temperature of liquid-phase crystallized silicon on glass
The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum due band-to-band recombination in an only 8 μm thick liquid-phase crystallized silicon on glass solar cell absorber is measured over 3 orders of magnitude with a thin 400 μm thick optical fiber directly coupled to the spectrometer. High PL signal is achieved by the possibility to capture the PL spectrum very near to the silicon surface. The spectra measured within microcrystals of the absorber present the same features as spectra of crystalline silicon wafers without showing defect luminescence indicating the high electronic material quality of the liquid-phase multi-crystalline layer after hydrogen plasma treatment.
Impact of rare earth doping on the luminescence of lanthanum aluminum silicate glasses for radiation sensing
Large core soft glass fibers have been demonstrated to be promising candidates as intrinsic fiber sensors for radiation detection and dosimetry applications. Doping with rare earth ions enhanced their radiation sensitivity. SiO2-Al2O3-La2O3 (SAL) glasses offer easy fabrication of large core fibers with high rare earth concentration and higher mechanical strength than soft glasses. This paper evaluates the suitability of the SAL glass type for radiation dosimetry based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) via a comprehensive investigation of the spectroscopic and dosimetric properties of undoped and differently rare earth doped bulk SAL glass samples. Due to the low intensity of the rare earth luminescence peaks in the 250–400 nm OSL detection range, the OSL response for all the SAL glasses is not caused by the rare earth ions but by radiation-induced defects that act as intrinsic centers for the recombination of electrons and holes produced by the ionizing radiation, trapped in fabrication induced defect centers, and then released via stimulation with 470 nm light. The rare earth ions interfere with these processes involving intrinsic centers. This dosimetric behavior of highly rare earth doped SAL glasses suggests that enhancement of OSL response requires lower rare earth concentrations and/or longer wavelength OSL detection range.
Two-Step-Model of Photosensitivity in Cerium-doped Fibers
The photosensitivity of various cerium-doped fibers has been experimentally investigated for both excimer- and femtosecond-laser illumination. The results of single-pulse, few-pulse and multi-pulse inscription of fiber-Bragg-gratings with both laser systems and the thermal aging of those gratings demonstrated the restrictions of the conventional color center model for cerium-doped fibers. To explain the short-term stability of single-pulse gratings against long-term stability of multi-pulse gratings, an extension into a two-step-model was deduced.
Tm3+/Ho3+ co-doped germanate glass double-clad fiber for broadband emission and lasing above 2 µm
In this paper, a 2 µm broadband emission under 796 nm laser diode excitation in low phonon energy GeO2-Ga2O3-BaO glass system is co-doped with 0.7Tm2O3/(0.07-0.7)Ho2O3 (mol%). The widest emission band (where the Tm3+ → Ho3+ energy transfer efficiency is 63%) was obtained for 0.7Tm2O3/0.15Ho2O3 co-doped glass from which a double-clad optical fiber was realized and investigated. Optimization of Tm3+/Ho3+ concentration enabled the acquisition of broadband amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in double-clad optical fiber with a full width at half maximum (FWHM): 377 nm and 662 nm for 3 dB and 10 dB bandwidth, respectively. ASE spectrum is a result of the superposition of (Tm3+: 3H4 →Η3F4) 1.45 µm, (Tm3+: 3F4 → 3H6) 1.8 µm and (Ho3+:5I7 → 5I8) 2 µm emission bands. Hence, highly rare-earth co-doped germanate glass is characterized by a remarkably broader ASE spectrum than silica and tellurite fibers showed promising lasing properties for their further application in tunable and dual wavelength lasers.In this paper, a 2 µm broadband emission under 796 nm laser diode excitation in low phonon energy GeO2-Ga2O3-BaO glass system is co-doped with 0.7Tm2O3/(0.07-0.7)Ho2O3 (mol%). The widest emission band (where the Tm3+ → Ho3+ energy transfer efficiency is 63%) was obtained for 0.7Tm2O3/0.15Ho2O3 co-doped glass from which a double-clad optical fiber was realized and investigated. Optimization of Tm3+/Ho3+ concentration enabled the acquisition of broadband amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in double-clad optical fiber with a full width at half maximum (FWHM): 377 nm and 662 nm for 3 dB and 10 dB bandwidth, respectively. ASE spectrum is a result of the superposition of (Tm3+: 3H4 →Η3F4) 1.45 µm, (Tm3+: 3F4 → 3H6) 1.8 µm and (Ho3+:5I7 → 5I8) 2 µm emission bands. Hence, highly rare-earth co-doped germanate glass is characterized by a remarkably broader ASE spectrum than silica and tellurite fibers showed promising lasing properties for their further application in tunable and dual wavelength lasers.