Abstract:
An optical fibre for use in fibre lasers has the lasing additive eg Er.sup.3+, concentrated in center of the core. Preferably the core has an inner region which contains the additive and an outer region which is dopant free. The concentration of the dopant reduces the pump threshold for a laser and improves the gain performance for a given pump power. The fibre is conveniently made in MCVD. The use of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 in the inner zone appears to reduce loss of dopant during tube collapse.
Abstract:
An optical fiber having a core for propagating light, where the core includes first, second and third regions. The first, second and third regions are concentrically arranged with the second region around the first region and the third region around the second region. The third region includes a dopant for increasing the refractive index of the third region. The first region includes a first dopant for providing an amplification band and a second dopant for expanding the amplification band. The second region has an impurity concentration which is lower than the concentration of the dopant in the third region and is lower than the concentrations of the first and second dopants in the first region. Upon production of the fiber, the second region acts as a barrier to prevent diffusion of dopants. As a result, the amplification band can be effectively expanded. Various other arrangements of core and clad regions and dopants are provided. An optical amplifier using the various types of fibers is disclosed, as is a fiber having a structure which reduces loss when spliced to another fiber, and a method for splicing the fibers together.
Abstract:
Optical wave-guides, e.g. fibres, for use as photonic amplifiers have a path region partly or, preferably, wholly composed as a silica/germania glass with 0.1 to 5000 ppm mole of Er.sup.3+ as a lasing additive and alumina to adjust the bandwidth, the Ge:Al mole ratio being more than 2.8, e.g. 1:0.001 to 0.25. It is surprising that low amounts of alumina have a useful and significant effect on the lasing bandwidth whereby frequency division multiplex is facilitated.
Abstract:
In order to fabricate strip monomode active optical waveguides for opticalelecommunications, a layer of vitreous soot is deposited on a substrate and is impregnated with a solution of a precursor of a rare-earth dopant, and a radiation with a wavelength comprised in an absorption band of the dopant is moved along the soot, along a trajectory corresponding to the geometrical shape desired for the guide, thereby forming a vitrified strip.
Abstract:
A process for making an optical reflection grating in a glass fiber includes exposing an unjacketed optic fiber to a single writing pulse from a pair of interfering light beams that form an interference pattern in the fiber. A novel optical fiber has at least one optical grating with a preselected Bragg spacing in at least one region of the fiber, with a periodic modulation in its index of refraction, with high thermal stability and narrow linewidth. A process for making an array of optical reflection gratings in a glass fiber includes exposing a fiber to a plurality of writing pulse from a pair of interfering light beams that form an interference pattern in the fiber, where these pulses are applied sequentially as the fiber is drawn from a draw furnace. A novel optical fiber has a plurality of unspliced gratings with high thermal stability and narrow linewidth.
Abstract:
A method of manufacturing active optical fibers comprising preparing a preform and then drawing a fiber from the preform, wherein the method consists in using a preform having a doped peripheral outer zone, said zone being intended to constitute the outer cladding of the optical fiber, the doping of the peripheral zone giving it a refractive index greater than that of the optical cladding, and giving it a difference in softening temperature relative to that of the core of the optical fiber which is less than the difference that would exist if the outer zone were not doped.
Abstract:
In order to fabricate strip monomode active optical waveguides for optical telecommunications, a layer of vitreous soot is deposited on the interior of a tubular substrate and is impregnated with a solution of a precursor of a rare-earth dopant, and a radiation with a wavelength comprised in an absorption band of the dopant is moved along the soot, along a trajectory corresponding to the geometrical shape desired for the guide, thereby forming a vitrified strip.
Abstract:
Rare earth element doped silica glass according to the invention is prepared by doping silica-based glass co-doped with a rare earth element and aluminum additionally with fluorine and has excellent physical properties including remarkable light emission characteristics and an excellent capability of being fused with other silica-based glass. Such doped silica glass provides high amplification gains and a wide wavelength bandwidth and therefore can be used as a material for manufacturing miniaturized optical devices. Particularly, since the manufacturing process adapted to produce rare earth element doped silica glass according to the invention does not involve crystallization that normally characterizes the type of doped silica glass under consideration, the obtained doped silica glass is transparent and totally free from air bubbles. As a method for manufacturing rare earth doped silica glass according to the invention combines means for producing articles made of porous glass and a solution impregnation method, it provides easy and effective means for manufacturing rare earth doped silica glass which is co-doped with both a rare earth element and aluminum and highly transparent and therefore can be used as a suitable material for active optical devices.
Abstract:
A novel method is proposed for the preparation of a transparent fused silica glass body co-doped with a rare earth element and aluminum each in a high uniformity of the dopant distribution. The method comprises the steps of: (a) flame-hydrolyzing a silicon compound and an aluminum compound in an oxyhydrogen flame to form a porous silicon oxide body containing aluminum; (b) soaking the porous body having a specified bulk density with a solution of a rare earth compound; (c) drying the solution-soaked porous body; and (d) sintering and vitrifying the dried porous body into a transparent glass body.
Abstract:
A rare earth element-doped glass in which the rare earth element is homogeneously doped is produced by a method coprises hydrolyzing a metal alkoxide of the formula:M(OR).sub.4wherein M is a metal and R is an alkyl group in a liquid medium selected from the group consisting of alcohols and water in the presence of a compound of a rare earth element and condensing the hydrolyzed material to form a rare earth element-doped glass.