Solid-state transverse Anderson localized fiber laser.

For the first time, to our knowledge, an all-solid transverse Anderson localizing optical fiber laser is demonstrated. A combination of the molten core and stack-and-draw fiber fabrication techniques is used to produce a 112 µm core diameter fiber that is a random array of Yb-doped high index and passive low index regions. A localized channel first assists in the guidance of amplified spontaneous emission before stimulating laser action, which occurs in the same channel via mixed Anderson localization and step index wave-guiding.

Observation of optical nonlinearities in an all-solid transverse Anderson localizing optical fiber.

An all-solid transverse Anderson localizing optical fiber (TALOF) was fabricated using a novel combination of the stack-and-draw and molten core methods. Strong Anderson localization is observed in multiple regions of the fiber cross section associated with the higher index strontium aluminosilicate phases randomly arranged within a pure silica matrix. Further, to the best of our knowledge, nonlinear four-wave mixing is reported for the first time in a TALOF.