Calcium silicate and fluorosilicate optical fibers for high energy laser applications

Abstract

Passive calcium silicate and fluorosilicate glass optical fibers are fabricated using the molten core method, and their properties investigated. Reductions up to −11.5 dB in Brillouin gain coefficient, −2 dB in Raman gain coefficient, and −2.5 dB in thermo-optic coefficient, relative to silica, are measured. These results support the continued study of alkaline earth oxide silicates as host materials in high energy fiber-based applications since they offer less optical nonlinearity-limited properties for power-scaling than do current analogs. Other properties, such as refractive index and acoustic velocity, are also reported and discussed. Finally, modeling work is performed to study and identify the contributions of CaO and CaF2 glass materials on the fiber properties.