Fiber length dependence of phase change induced by laser-diode pumping in Yb/sup 3+/-Al/sup 3+/ co-doped optical fibers

We investigated the fiber length dependence of the phase change near 1580 nm induced by 980-nm pump beam in Yb/sup 3+/-Al/sup 3+/ co-doped optical glass fibers by use of a long-period fiber grating pair. As the pumping power increased, the phase change linearly increased and then was gradually saturated. Both the saturated phase change and the saturation pump power increased with the increase of the fiber length. The saturated phase change in Yb/sup 3+/-Al/sup 3+/ co-doped fibers of 16.7, 33.2, and 43.5 cm was found to be /spl sim/0.5, /spl sim/0.8, and /spl sim/1.0 rad, respectively. The saturation of the phase change is attributed to the saturation of the absorption from the finite ytterbium ions doped in the fibers.     

Theoretical analysis of gain characteristics of Er/sup 3+/-Tm/sup 3+/-codoped tellurite fiber amplifier

The rate and power propagation equations of Er/sup 3+/ and Tm/sup 3+/-codoped tellurite fiber amplifier pumped by 800-nm laser are presented and solved to analyze the dependences of gain at both 1470 and 1530 nm on the codoping concentration of Er/sup 3+/ and Tm/sup 3+/, fiber length, and input signal power. The numerical results show that with pump power of 200 mW and fiber length of 1.5 m, the gain at both 1470 and 1530 nm may reach 12.0 dB when the codoping concentration of Er/sup 3+/ and Tm/sup 3+/ reach 4.0/spl times/10/sup 25/ ions/m/sup 3/, 3.2/spl times/10/sup 25/ ions/m/sup 3/, respectively. The fiber length and codopant concentrations are proposed to make the two channels equivalently amplified.     

Blue energy upconversion emission in thulium-doped-SiO/sub 2/-P/sub 2/O/sub 5/ channel waveguides excited at 1.064 /spl mu/m

Blue energy upconversion emission in Tm/sup 3+/-doped SiO/sub 2/-P/sub 2/O/sub 5/ channel waveguides off-resonance pumped by infrared radiation is reported. The waveguide samples were excited by a single continuous-wave laser source at 1.064 /spl mu/m. Two distinct blue emission signals around 450 and 480 nm, in addition to red at 660 nm and near-infrared at 800-nm less intense emissions were observed. The upconversion excitation mechanism was assigned to stepwise multiphoton absorption processes followed by nonradiative multiphonon-assisted relaxation processes. Infrared-to-blue conversion efficiencies with respect to the absorbed pump power of /spl sim/6.0/spl times/10/sup -7/ for this off-resonance pumping scheme was measured. The dependence of the infrared-to-blue upconversion mechanism upon the excitation power and thulium content is also examined.     

800-nm upconversion emission in Yb-sensitized Tm-doped optical fiber

We report, for the first time, the upconversion emission at 800 nm in Yb-sensitized Tm-doped alumino-germano-silicate glass optical fiber when pumped with the 980-nm laser diode. Maximum gain of 6 dB was measured at 808 nm and the upconversion is contributed to the energy transfer from Yb/sup 3+/ ions to Tm/sup 3+/ ions.     

Multiwavelength diode-cladding-pumped Nd/sup 3+/-doped germano-aluminosilicate fiber laser

Simultaneous multiwavelength oscillation at 1060 and 1090 nm has been produced from a free-running Nd/sup 3+/-doped multicomponent silica fiber laser. As a result of co-doping with both Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and GeO/sub 2/, the Nd/sup 3+/ ions are situated at separate sites relating to either Al/sup 3+/-rich or Ge/sup 4+/-rich regions of the germano-aluminosilicate glass. The slope efficiency of the combined /spl sim/1-/spl mu/m output was /spl sim/52% (56%) with respect to the launched (absorbed) pump power. The 1060-nm emission reaches threshold first because of the greater number of Nd/sup 3+/ ions that are located at Al/sup 3+/-rich sites. On chopping the pump light the relaxation oscillations relating to the 1090-nm emission are antiphase with the oscillations observed with the 1060-nm emission. A degree of spectral overlap exists between the fluorescence emitted from Nd/sup 3+/ ions located at each site. Power equalization (to /spl sim/1 W each) of the 1060- and 1090-nm emissions was carried out by way of Raman amplification that occurred either internally or externally to the Nd/sup 3+/-doped silica fiber laser.     

Midinfrared holmium fiber lasers

The use of the high-power Tm/sup 3+/-doped silica fiber laser as a pump source for Ho/sup 3+/-doped silica and Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber lasers for the generation of 2.1-/spl mu/m radiation is demonstrated. The Ho/sup 3+/-doped silica fiber laser produced a maximum output power of 1.5 W at a slope efficiency of /spl sim/82%; one of the highest slope efficiencies measured for a fiber laser. In a nonoptimized but similar fiber laser arrangement, a Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber laser produced an output power of 0.38 W at 2.08 /spl mu/m at a slope efficiency of /spl sim/50%. A Raman fiber laser operating at 1160 nm was also used to pump a Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber laser operating at a wavelength of 2.86 /spl mu/m. An output power of 0.31W was produced at a slope efficiency of 10%. The energy transfer upconversion process that depopulates the lower laser level in this case operates at a higher efficiency when the pump wavelength is closer to the absorption peak of the /sup 5/I/sub 6/ energy level, however, this energy transfer process does not impede to a great extent the performance of the Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber laser based on the /spl sim/2.1/spl mu/m laser transition.     

Efficient and scalable side pumping scheme for short high-power optical fiber lasers and amplifiers

A new and simple method of pumping short high-power optical fiber lasers and amplifiers is described. In our approach, several passive coreless optical fibers are brought into direct contact alongside a single rare-earth doped active fiber which constitutes the active medium of the laser (amplifier). Pump light is delivered through the passive coreless fibers and penetrates into the active fiber via evanescent field coupling. To enhance the pump absorption in the gain medium, high-order spatial modes are excited in the pump delivery fibers, and an active fiber with high concentration of the dopant ions is used. As a demonstration of the viability of our approach, test results are reported on a 12-cm-long Er/sup +3/-Yb/sup +3/ codoped phosphate glass fiber laser. The laser output reaches 5 W using 23-W pumping into six coreless fibers. Above threshold, the laser has /spl sim/24% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency (with /spl sim/64% being the theoretical maximum). The linearity of the input-output characteristic for the laser suggests that the output power can be scaled up by applying higher pump power.     

35-dB gain Tm-doped ZBLYAN fiber amplifier operating at 1.65 /spl mu/m

We demonstrate the first high gain rare-earth-doped fiber amplifier operating at 1.65 /spl mu/m. It consists of ZBLYAN fiber with a Tm/sup 3+/-doped core and Tb/sup 3+/-doped cladding, pumped by 1.22 /spl mu/m laser diodes. It is possible to achieve efficient amplification with Tm/sup 3+/ ions if their amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in the 1.75 to 2.0 /spl mu/m wavelength region is suppressed by doping Tb/sup 3+/ ions in the cladding. A two-stage-type fiber amplifier is constructed and a signal gain of 35 dB is achieved for a pump power of 140 mW. A gain over 25 dB is realized in the 1.65 /spl mu/m to 1.67 /spl mu/m wavelength region.     

Self-phase modulation coefficient of multiple-quantum-well optical amplifiers

The self-phase modulation coefficient /spl gamma/ of 1310 nm multiple-quantum-well (MQW) semiconductor optical amplifiers has been investigated. It is found to vary from 16/spl times/10/sup 4/ W/sup -1/ m/sup -1/ for low driving conditions to 3/spl times/10/sup 4/ W/sup -1/ m/sup -1/ for high-driving conditions. This implies that the amount of self-phase modulation occurring in the amplifier is between 1.5-10/spl times/ more than that occurring in the optical fiber following the amplifier. The additional self-phase modulation caused by the semiconductor optical amplifier may be used to achieve compensation for fiber dispersion in optical communication systems at significantly lower average power levels. The linewidth enhancement factor /spl alpha//sub H/ was found to increase from a value of 2 at low driving conditions, in agreement with results reported for MQW lasers, to a value of 3 at high-driving conditions.     

Full characterization of packaged Er-Yb-codoped phosphate glass waveguides

We present a procedure for the characterization of packaged Er-Yb-codoped phosphate glass waveguides. The procedure is based on precise measurements of the output optical powers when the waveguide is diode-laser pumped at 980 nm. The dependence of these optical powers on the input pump power is then fitted to the results from a numerical model that describes in detail the propagation of the optical powers inside the waveguide. The best fit is obtained for the following parameters: the signal wavelength scattering losses are /spl alpha/(1534)=8.3/spl times/10/sup -2/ dB/cm, the Yb/sup 3+/ absorption and emission cross sections (/spl ap/980 nm) are 5.4/spl times/10/sup -25/ m/sup 2/ and 7.0/spl times/10/sup -25/ m/sup 2/, the Er/sup 3+/ absorption and emission cross sections (/spl ap/980 nm) are 1.6/spl times/10/sup -25/ m/sup 2/ and 1.2/spl times/10/sup -25/ m/sup 2/, the Yb/sup 3+/--Er/sup 3+/ energy-transfer coefficient is 1.8/spl times/10/sup -23/ m/sup 3//s and the cooperative-upconversion coefficient is 8/spl times/10/sup -25/ m/sup 3//s. An approximate method is introduced that allows the determination of the absorption and emission cross section distributions for the erbium /sup 4/I/sub 13/2//spl hArr//sup 4/I/sub 15/2/ transition from the amplified spontaneous emission power spectrum.     

Extruded singlemode, high-nonlinearity, tellurite glass holey fibre

The fabrication of the first singlemode tellurite glass holey fibre produced from an extruded preform is reported. Robust singlemode guidance was observed at 1047 nm in the fabricated small core holey fibre. An effective mode area of 2.6 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ and high effective nonlinearity of 580 W/sup -1/ km/sup -1/ at 1047 nm were predicted. The fibre loss was measured to be 3.5 dB/m at 1050 nm, and 5.8 dB/m at 1550 nm.     

Spectroscopy of yttria-alumina-silica glass doped with thulium and erbium

Yttria-alumina-silica (YAS) glasses doped with Er/sup 3+/ and Tm/sup 3+/ have been examined spectroscopically for their potential as fiber amplifier gain media for optical telecommunication systems. Absorption and emission spectra as well as emission lifetime measurements and Judd-Ofelt calculations are reported. Tm/sup 3+/: YAS glass exhibits an emission bandwidth of 122 nm around 1470 nm, making it promising for S/sup +/-band amplification.     

Finely tunable 10-Gb/s signal wavelength conversion from 1530 to 1560-nm region using a super structure grating distributed Bragg reflector laser

Finely tunable wavelength conversion of a 10-Gb/s signal is demonstrated to wavelengths ranged from 1530 to 1560 nm with spacings of 0.5 nm and accuracy of /spl plusmn/0.05 nm, where the Er/sup 3+/ doped optical fiber amplifier has optical gain, by using a super structure grating distributed Bragg reflector laser. Transmission of a wavelength-converted 10-Gb/s signal within the entire target wavelength range over a 100-km optical fiber is also demonstrated using a dispersion-shifted optical fiber.     

Light amplification and lasing in a stilbenoid compound-doped glass-clad polymer optical fiber

We report on a large optical gain, over the wide spectral range, and lasing in a glass-clad polymer optical fiber that uses a novel highly fluorescent stilbenoid compound. The compound 1,4-bis(4-diphenylamino-styryl)-benzene is designed for the blue region of the spectrum and has a high quantum yield of 0.85 in polystyrene and a relatively large Stokes shift of /spl sim/50 nm. A fiber doped with 0.2-wt.% of the compound is photoexcited with a thin striped-shape area at 355 nm with nanosecond optical pulses, and the emission from one end is monitored as a function of the excitation length to deduce the net gain coefficient. The gain spectroscopy has revealed a broad optical gain exceeding 25 cm/sup -1/ and up to 36 cm/sup -1/ at 494 nm that covers a wide spectral range of about 70 nm when the fiber is transversely photoexcited at 12 mJ/cm/sup 2/ at room temperature. An analysis shows that the saturation effect expected for homogeneously broadened gain accounts for the amplified spontaneous emission output behavior at longer excitation lengths. Waveguide loss is measured to be 0.7 cm/sup -1/ at 494 nm. The large gain and low loss have been utilized to demonstrate blue laser emission at 489 nm from the fiber (which is only 1.4 cm in length) in a low finesse cavity defined by the Fresnel reflections at the fiber-air interfaces. The threshold for lasing is found to be 1.7 mJ/cm/sup 2/.     

1.65 /spl mu/m-band optical amplification with Er/sup 3+/-doped fluorozirconate fibre using 0.8 /spl mu/m upconversion pumping

In order to expand the available bandwidth for wavelength division multiplexing transmission systems, a 1.65 /spl mu/m-band optical fibre amplifier with Er/sup 3+/-doped fluorozirconate fibre using 0.8 /spl mu/m upconversion pumping has been demonstrated. The positive gain, 3.8 dB, is the first ever achieved by means of (/sup 2/H/sub 11/2/, /sup 4/S/sub 3/2/) /spl rarr/ /sup 4/I/sub 9/2/ stimulated emission transition.     

Efficient thulium-doped 2-/spl mu/m germanate fiber laser

We report an efficient fiber laser operating near 2 /spl mu/m. The glass for the fiber is germanate that is highly doped with thulium. The effect of cross relaxation energy transfer between thulium ions as observed from emission spectrum of the glass samples results in the laser having a very high slope efficiency of 58% with respect to launched power. This corresponds to a quantum efficiency of 1.79, indicating that each pump photon leads to near 1.8 excited Tm/sup 3+/ ions.     

Optical DPSK demodulator based on /spl pi/-phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating with an optically tunable phase shifter

We propose and demonstrate a novel optical differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) demodulator with an optically tunable phase shifter. The proposed DPSK demodulator is implemented by using a /spl pi/-phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating and an Yb/sup 3+/-Al/sup 3+/ codoped optical fiber. A 10-Gb/s DPSK signal was successfully demodulated by the proposed demodulator, showing clearly open eye diagrams as well as bit-error-free performance. Moreover, the phase of delayed optical signal can be tuned by the phase shifter that is controlled by a pumping light at around 980nm.     

Design and fabrication of zinc oxide thin-film ridge waveguides on silicon substrate with ultraviolet amplified spontaneous emission

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin-film ridge waveguides have been designed and fabricated on n-type (100) silicon substrate. A filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique is used to deposit high-crystal-quality ZnO thin films on lattice-mismatched silicon substrates at 230/spl deg/C. A ridge waveguide of width /spl sim/2 /spl mu/m and height /spl sim/0.1 /spl mu/m is defined on the ZnO thin film by plasma etching. Room-temperature amplified spontaneous emission is observed with peak wavelength at /spl sim/385 nm under 355-nm optical excitation. It is found that the net optical gain of the ZnO thin-film ridge waveguides can be as large as 120 cm/sup -1/ at a pump intensity of /spl sim/1.9 MW/cm/sup 2/.     

Polarization-dependent enhancement of population inversion and of green upconversion in Er:LiNbO/sub 3/ by Yb codoping

We have investigated the polarization dependence of both the population inversion of the /sup 4/I/sub 13/2/ state and the green upconversion to the /sup 4/S/sub 3/2/ state in Er:LiNbO/sub 3/ optical fiber amplifier when codoped with Yb and pumped around 980 nm. The presence of Yb/sup 3+/ enhances the population of the /sup 4/I/sub 13/2/ state of the Er/sup 3+/ ions when pumped at /spl sigma/-polarization (>2.5 times) and at /spl pi/-polarization (>5.5 times), and introduces a broad useful pump band around 940-960 nm at /spl sigma/-polarization, relaxing fabrication tolerances on semiconductor pump sources. An enhancement of green upconversion is also observed by the Yb codoping. Lifetime measurements indicate that, as in glass substrates, nonradiative energy transfer is responsible for these enhancements.     

Evidence of enhanced hypersensitive transition in erbium-doped fibers with different Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ content

Precise spectroscopic absorption measurements of erbium-doped aluminosilicate fibers with different Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ content were performed with the Judd-Ofelt analysis. From the Judd-Ofelt analysis, the /spl Omega//sub 2/ parameters of Er/sup 3+/ ions in these fibers were found to be about three times as large as those in aluminosilicate bulk glasses. The enhancement of the /spl Omega//sub 2/ parameters led to much stronger line strength of hypersensitive transitions in a fiber form than in a bulk glass form. This indicates that the distortion of the ligand field around the Er/sup 3+/ ions are more enhanced in a fiber form than in a bulk glass form. Furthermore, the /spl Omega//sub 6/ and the /spl Omega//sub 2/ parameters increased with an increase of q content up to 20 000 ppm. This Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/-content dependence of the /spl Omega//sub 6/ parameter was consistent with that of the line strength and the spontaneous emission probabilities of the transition corresponding to the /sup 4/I/sub 13/2//spl rarr//sup 4/I/sub 15/2/.