SPECIAL ISSUE 'OPTICAL FIBRES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS' : Optical properties of heavily ytterbium- and fluorine-doped aluminosilicate core fibres. (27th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yashkov, M V; Abramov, A N; Gur'yanov, A N; Melkumov, M A; Shubin, A V; Bubnov, M M; Likhachev, M E
• Is Part Of: Quantum electronics. Volume 47:Number 12(2017)
• Page Start: 1099
• Page End: 1104
• Publication Date: 2017-12-27
• Subjects: Quantum electronics -- Periodicals; 537.5
• DOI: 10.1070/QEL16542
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1063-7818

Abstract

Abstract: An improved MCVD process has been proposed which allows one to fabricate ytterbium-doped fibre preforms with a fluorine-doped aluminosilicate glass-based core. Using this process, we have demonstrated the possibility of codoping the glass with high Yb 3+ concentration (about 2 wt %), high fluorine concentration (2 wt %) and aluminium oxide concentration above 1.5 mol % (to ensure high ytterbium solubility), resulting in a record low refractive index of the glass (Δn ≈ 0.000–0.003). A series of fibre with a SiO2 – Al2 O3 – GeO2 – Yb2 O3 – F core have been fabricated and their optical characteristics have been investigated. In particular, we have demonstrated the possibility of reaching the highest possible lasing efficiency (82.7% with respect to absorbed pump power). We have studied the photodarkening level in the fibres as a function of ytterbium concentration and demonstrated the feasibility of making ytterbium-doped fibre amplifiers based on the described fibres, with an extremely low output power degradation rate (less than 20% after 10 000 h of continuous operation).