Paper
28 February 2006 The potential of direct nanoparticle deposition for the next generation of optical fibers
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Abstract
Fiber lasers offer substantial advantages compared to conventional solid-state lasers due to their high efficiency, compact size, diffraction-limited beam quality, tunability, and facile thermal management. A number of important applications require high peak powers and pulse energies, which has generated great interest in Yb-doped, large-modearea (LMA) fibers. Liekki has pioneered a new manufacturing technology for rare-earth-doped fibers, Direct Nanoparticle Deposition (DND), that is capable of producing fibers uniquely well suited to power scaling. Conventional fiber fabrication methods are characterized by poor process accuracy and flexibility due to the large particle sizes and relatively small number of deposition layers (2-10). In contrast, DND provides independent control of the composition of hundreds of layers that make up the core, thereby allowing previously unattainable precision, accuracy, and uniformity in the index and rare-earth-dopant profiles. DND allows the simultaneous use of both gasphase and liquid precursors, providing unprecedented flexibility in the glass composition. Furthermore, DND enables fabrication of fibers with extremely high rare-earth concentrations, which minimizes the required fiber length and correspondingly raises the threshold power for nonlinear processes. Finally, the single-step, direct-deposition process makes manufacturing of fibers rapid and cost-effective, even for fibers with large core diameters or sophisticated geometries and dopant distributions. DND fibers have shown high conversion efficiency (low clustering), low photodarkening, and high damage threshold. DND thus promises to revolutionize the use of fiber lasers in applications previously restricted to bulk, solid-state lasers and to enable new applications of high-power lasers.
© (2006) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Simo Tammela, Mikko Söderlund, Joona Koponen, Valery Philippov, and Per Stenius "The potential of direct nanoparticle deposition for the next generation of optical fibers", Proc. SPIE 6116, Optical Components and Materials III, 61160G (28 February 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.660405
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Cited by 32 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Glasses

Doping

Fiber lasers

Ions

Fiber amplifiers

Manufacturing

Nanoparticles

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