Amplification and ASE suppression in a polarization-maintaining ytterbium-doped solid-core photonic bandgap fibre

Abstract

We demonstrate suppression of amplified spontaneous emission at the conventional ytterbium gain wavelengths around 1030 nm in a cladding-pumped polarization-maintaining ytterbium-doped solid core photonic crystal fibre. The fibre works through combined index and bandgap guiding. Furthermore, we show that the peak of the amplified spontaneous emission can be shifted towards longer wavelengths by rescaling the fibre dimensions. Thereby one can obtain lasing or amplification at longer wavelengths (1100 nm - 1200 nm) as the amount of amplification in the fibre is shown to scale with the power of the amplified spontaneous emission.