Codoped Phosphate Fiber Research Articles

Mathematical Modeling and Some Novel Studies on Er3+ and Er3+/Yb3+ Co- Doped Phosphate Glasses and Fiber Optics Amplifiers for Applications in Renewable Energy

Er3+ and Er3+/Yb3+ Co-doped Phosphate Glasses and Fiber Optics Amplifiers have recently gained importance among the researchers working in the field of Renewable energy. Er has the electronic configuration [Xe]4f126s2, so Er3+ has 11 f electrons ([Xe]4f11). With such a large number of electrons in its f-shell, many different values of L, S and J are possible. The valence electron configuration of Yb+3 (from YbCl3) is 4f135s25p6, which has crucial implications for the chemical behaviour of Yb+3. Also, the size of Yb+3 governs its catalytic behaviour and biological applications. This paper presents the detailed scientific analysis of the related phenomena like - energy transfer efficiency, and the important breakthroughs in the subject. For the optimum utilization of these for Renewable energy, a good knowledge of these glasses and amplifiers is necessary. With this objective in view, the technical analysis of the Er3+ and Er3+/Yb3+ Co-doped Phosphate Glasses and Fiber Optics Amplifiers have been briefly presented. In addition, some of the recent novel important studies have been reviewed.

Multi-Wavelength, Passively Q-Switched, Single-Frequency Fiber Laser

A passively Q-switched single-frequency fiber laser with stable multi-wavelength operation is presented in this report. The laser cavity is constructed by using a 13-mm Er <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3+</sup> /Yb <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3+</sup> co-doped phosphate fiber with a multi-channel fiber Bragg grating and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror attached to each fiber end, respectively. Quad-wavelength pulsed lasers are obtained and all of them maintain single-frequency operation. By controlling the pump power and the temperature of laser cavity, the Q-switched pulse operation is realized with repetition rates range of 126.6–350.9 kHz, a narrowest pulse duration of 104 ns, and a maximum pulse energy of 55.4 nJ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to realize a Q-switched fiber laser operating at multiple wavelengths with single longitudinal mode. Furthermore, the evolutions of the pulse energy and repetition rates for different wavelength numbers are further analysis theoretically. This type of single-frequency pulsed fiber laser has extensive application prospect in fiber sensing and lidar systems.

Polarization-Maintaining Single-Frequency Fiber Laser With Quadruple Wavelengths at the C-Band

In this paper, a polarization-maintaining quad-wavelength (QW) single-frequency fiber laser (SFFL) at the C-band with the novel and compact structure is demonstrated. Applying the rate equations and multiple coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations, the theoretical model of QW fiber lasers is established, and then the optical spectra, temporal evolution, and stability of the QW fiber laser are analyzed numerically. Based on the theoretical analysis, a QW-SFFL having an ultrashort linear distributed Bragg reflector cavity is proposed. Utilizing a wideband fiber Bragg grating coupled with a dual-channel polarization maintaining fiber Bragg grating as the wavelength selection and a 15-mm-long Er 3+ /Yb 3+ co-doped phosphate fiber as the gain medium has realized a robust QW laser with the wavelength spacing of 0.4 nm. All the wavelengths maintain the single-frequency operation independently with the linewidths of 20 kHz. This type of compact SFFLs with quadruple wavelengths is widely adapted to lidar systems and fiber sensing.

Compact passively Q-switched single-frequency Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate fiber laser

We present a compact passively Q-switched single-frequency fiber laser based on a 12-mm-long laboratory-built highly Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate fiber (EYDPF) and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). An effective cavity length of less than 20 mm ensures the stable single-frequency operation of the Q-switched fiber laser. By employing a SESAM for Q-switching, a single-pulse energy of more than 34.4 nJ is realized with the narrowest pulse duration of 95 ns, and the repetition rate of the Q-switched fiber laser reaches over 600 kHz. In addition, the optical signal-to-noise ratio of the output laser is as high as 68.0 dB.

Dual-wavelength passively q-switched single-frequency fiber laser.

We propose a compact dual-wavelength Q-switched single-frequency fiber laser based on a 17-mm-long home-made highly Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber (EYDPF) and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The short cavity length and a polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating (PM-FBG) ensure that only one longitudinal mode is supported by each reflection peak. The maximum pulse energy of more than 34.5 nJ was realized with the shortest pulse duration of 110.5 ns and the Q-switched fiber laser has a repetition rate reaching over 700 kHz with a temporal synchronization of pulses at two wavelengths. Besides, the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of larger than 64.5 dB was achieved.

Yb–Er co-doped phosphate fiber with hexagonal inner cladding

An Yb–Er co-doped phosphate glass double-clad fiber with hexagonal inner cladding was fabricated by stack-and-draw method. Output power of 4.9 W was extracted with slope efficiency of 30 % from the fiber with 55 cm in length.

Short monolithic dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode DBR phosphate fiber laser.

We propose and demonstrate a 5-cm-long monolithic dual-wavelength single-longitudinal mode distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) all-phosphate fiber laser. Strong UV-induced fiber Bragg gratings are directly written in highly Er/Yb codoped phosphate fiber. The separation between gratings is selected as 1cm to only excite two longitudinal modes in the DBR cavity. By exploiting the spatial hole burning effect and the polarization hole burning effect, stable narrow-linewidth dual-wavelength lasing emission with 38pm wavelength spacing and a total emitted power of 2.8mW is obtained from this DBR fiber laser. A microwave signal at 4.58GHz is generated by the heterodyne detection of the dual-wavelength laser.

Microwave Signal Generation From a Dual-Wavelength Single-Frequency Highly $\hbox{Er}^{3+}/\hbox{Yb}^{3+}$ Co-Doped Phosphate Fiber Laser

Narrow linewidth microwave signals generated from a heterodyne detection configuration of a dual-wavelength (DW) single-frequency highly Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber laser is presented. The oscillating cavity of the fiber laser consists of a dual-channel narrow-band fiber-Bragg-grating (DC-NB-FBG), a 0.7-cm-long Er3+/ Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber and a wideband FBG (WB-FBG). The wavelength selecting gratings are spatially separated to create partially separated resonant cavities. Highly Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber ensures that the mode competition is relatively weak under low pump power. DW single-frequency lasing with laser linewidths of 3 kHz is achieved. A 12.014-GHz microwave signal with a 3-dB linewidth of 3 kHz is obtained from the heterodyne detection of the DW fiber laser.

Photonic generation of tunable microwave signals from a dual-wavelength distributed-Bragg-reflector highly Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber laser

The photonic generation of tunable microwave signal from a dual-wavelength distributed-Bragg-reflector (DW-DBR) highly Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber laser is presented. Microwave signals centered at ∼15, ∼22 and ∼25 GHz with <10 kHz linewidth were obtained. The laser cavity of the fiber laser consists of a dual-channel narrowband fiber-Bragg-grating (DC-NB-FBG), a 0.4-cm-long Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber and a wideband FBG (WB-FBG). The wavelength selecting gratings are spatially separated to create partially separated resonant cavities. Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate fiber ensures that mode competition is relative weak under low pump power. The short cavity length and the DC-NB-FBG ensure that only one longitudinal mode is supported by each reflection peak. Dual-wavelength single-frequency lasing with laser linewidths of <4 kHz is achieved.

Wavelength tunable femtosecond laser based on short Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate fiber

A wavelength tunable laser system mode-locked by nonlinear polarization evolution based on a 3 cm-long homemade Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate fiber has been reported. By simply adjusting the polarization controllers, the central wavelength of the mode-locked spectrum can be tuned over 1537.1–1563.3 nm continuously. Moreover, 264-fs pulse with 3-dB spectral width of 39.6 nm and peak power of 7.8 kW at a 7.55 MHz repetition rate is generated directly from the all-fiber ring cavity.

Q-switched mode-locking femtosecond all-fiber laser based on Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate fiber

A Q-switched mode-locking femtosecond all-fiber laser based on a 2 cm long homemade Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate glass fiber has been reported. By using the nonlinear polarization evolution technique, a nearly 100% modulation depth of mode-locking pulse train is achieved. At a pump power of 410 mW, the energy of each Q-switched envelope, whose width is about 220 μs, is 10 μJ, while the duration of mode-locking pulse within the Q-switched envelope is 318-fs.

Kilowatt-level stimulated-Brillouin-scattering-threshold monolithic transform-limited 100 ns pulsed fiber laser at 1530 nm

We demonstrate a high-stimulated-Brillouin-scattering-threshold monolithic pulsed fiber laser in a master oscillator power amplifier configuration that can operate over the C band. In the power amplifier stage, we used a newly developed single-mode, polarization maintaining, and highly Er/Yb codoped phosphate fiber with a core diameter of 25 microm. A single-frequency actively Q-switched fiber laser was used to generate pulses in the hundreds of nanoseconds at 1530 nm. We have achieved peak power of 1.2 kW for 105 ns pulses at a repetition rate of 8 kHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of 0.126 mJ, with transform-limited linewidth and diffraction-limited beam quality.

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A high-concentration Er3+/Yb3+ codoped core-cladding heterogeneous single-mode phosphate fiber amplifier with a similar numerical aperture to the Corning SMF-28 standard single-mode optical fiber is described. Measurements and calculations are given for the device's optical absorption, strong infrared fluorescence, absorption, and emission cross-sections of Er3+, Judd-Ofelt parameters, and spontaneous transition probabilities of Er3+ in the core glasses. The relative gain (the signal enhancement) of a 5.8-cm-long fiber amplifier was measured to be 32.3 dB, and after compensating for both the propagation loss and the absorption loss, a maximum internal gain of 2.6 dB/cm at 1.535 µm was obtained, which reveals an available core-cladding heterogeneous design strategy in developing high-gain amplifier devices.

High-Power All-Fiber-Based Narrow-Linewidth Single-Mode Fiber Laser Pulses in the C-Band and Frequency Conversion to THz Generation

Based on highly Er/Yb codoped phosphate fibers, we have implemented all-fiber-based narrow-linewidth single-mode (SM) pulsed fiber lasers in master oscillator and power amplifier configuration. Two approaches were used to achieve the narrow-linewidth pulsed fiber laser seeds: 1) an all-fiber-based active Q-switched fiber laser using an actuator and 2) a directly modulated single-frequency continuous-wave fiber laser. Both the fiber laser seed pulses from the two approaches have the transform-limited spectral linewidth. Based on a newly developed large-core SM highly Er/Yb codoped phosphate fiber, the peak power of SM pulses can be scaled to more than 50 kW with transform-limited linewidth and diffraction-limited beam quality. These high-power narrow-linewidth SM fiber laser pulses have been successfully used to generate coherent terahertz (THz) waves based on parametric processes in a nonlinear optical crystal. The peak power of this fiber-based THz source can reach 26.4 mW.

3-Dimensional heat analysis in short-length Er^3+/Yb^3+ co-doped phosphate fiber laser with upconversion

A 3-dimenstional (3D) heat flow model of laser diode (LD) pumped short-length Er(3+)/Yb(3+) heavily co-doped phosphate fiber laser that includes the energy-transfer upconversion (ETU) effects has been developed. The fully 3D analytical solution with the consideration of longitudinal heat flow has been given to describe the temperature distribution in phosphate fiber. The calculated results show that both ETU processes and longitudinal heat conduction have a great influence on the fiber laser performance. Finally, we have validated the analytical expression by measuring the temperature distribution of an end-pumped short-length Er(3+)/Yb(3+) co-doped fiber laser, which was placed into the copper tube.

Laser Transmitter for Undersea Communications Using Third-Harmonic Generation of Fiber-Laser System at 1.5 $\mu$m

We report a viable laser transmitter for free-space undersea communications. An all-fiber, picosecond, Watt-level master-oscillator-power-amplifier (MOPA) system at 1.5 mum based on rapid amplification of mode-locked pulses in heavily Er:Yb codoped phosphate fiber is combined with fiber pigtailed lithium niobate intensity modulator (pulse picker), to construct a fully integrated eye-safe transmitter operating at 65-Mb/s data rate, that can be used in intermediate-range (few kilometers) atmospheric communication links. For undersea use, the output of the MOPA system is frequency-tripled into the blue-green transparency window of ocean water. The wavelength conversion occurs in a simple single-pass setup utilizing a sequence of two periodically poled lithium niobate crystals, both of which are operated at room temperature. The conversion efficiency from fundamental to third harmonic reached 14% and resulted in generation of 140 mW of average power at 518 nm. The conversion efficiency can be straightforwardly increased threefold using properly antireflection-coated optics in the free-space part of the setup, and the data rate can be scaled up into the gigabit-per-second range by using a faster mode-locked oscillator in the MOPA system.

Generation of watt-level single-longitudinal-mode output from cladding-pumped short fiber lasers

We generate as much as 1.6 W of continuous-wave 1550 nm single-longitudinal-mode output from a cladding pumped Er-Yb codoped phosphate fiber laser. This power is to our knowledge among the highest in single-longitudinal-mode fiber lasers. The narrowband fiber Bragg grating output coupler is demonstrated to be an effective element for providing the single-longitudinal-mode selection.

Improved gain performance of high concentration Er/sup 3+/-Yb/sup 3+/-codoped phosphate fiber amplifier

The rate equations and power evolution equations of erbium/ytterbium codoped phosphate fiber amplifiers are solved numerically and its results are compared with measured data in literature. Based on the numerical analysis, optimal erbium and ytterbium codoping concentrations are supposed, and with a pump power of 224 mW and a fiber length of 3.6 cm, the internal gain of 31.0 dB and gain per unit length of 8.6 dB/cm may be achieved in the fiber with the optimal codoping concentrations.

Gain characteristics of high-concentration Er3+/Yb3+-codoped phosphate fiber amplifier

The gain characteristics of Er3+/Yb3+-codoped phosphate fiber amplifier pumped with light of 980nm wavelength are theoretically studied in this paper. With the help of rate equations and the propagation equation of Er3+/Yb3+-codoped phosphate fiber, we analyzed the effects of concentration of erbium and ytterbium ions, pump power, signal power and fiber length on the gain characteristics of the co-doped fiber amplifier. Comparison with singly erbium-doped fiber amplifier was also made. It is shown that the sensitization of Yb3+ decreases the clustering effect of erbium ions in the fiber and the gain and pump efficiency of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped fiber are apparently higher than that of singly erbium-doped fiber. Numerical results also demonstrate that considerable signal gain of 10dB can be achieved in a 3.2cm-long fiber amplifier with 20dBm(100mW) pumping power at 980 nm.

Generation of 9.3-W Multimode and 4-W Single-Mode Output From 7-cm Short Fiber Lasers

We generate 9.3-W continuous-wave 1535-nm multimode output from a 7.0-cm short-length Er-Yb codoped phosphate fiber laser. A slope efficiency of 29% is obtained at pump powers below 27 W. Very high output power per unit fiber length of 1.33 W/cm is achieved. From another 7.1-cm Er-Yb codoped fiber laser, 4.0-W single-transverse-mode output with M/sup 2//spl ap/1.1 is generated.