Supermode lasing and light amplification in multicore bismuth-doped fiber.

Multicore fibers are promising structures with specific light propagation properties, which can be managed to benefit several applications in optical communications, fiber lasers and amplifiers, high-resolution imaging, and fiber-based sensors. The current use of multicore fibers in laser technology is mainly focused on in-phase coherent beam combining in far-field regions (out-cavity) using bulk optical elements. However, this approach is challenging in terms of the power scalability of all-fiber lasers (intra-cavity), particularly with using low-gain media, where it is needed to provide mode-coupling (supermode propagation) stability along relatively long lengths.

Polarization-dependent gain in bismuth-doped phospho- and germanosilicate fiber amplifiers.

Polarization-dependent gain (PDG) effect was studied in a conventional core-pumping configuration of bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers (BDFAs) based on PANDA-type phospho- and germanosilicate core fibers. The PDG value was determined as the gain difference between the orthogonal signal polarizations, which was found to be in range of 2.5-3 dB at total gain of >20 dB in such BDFAs.

Cladding-pumped laser and amplifier for E- and S-bands based on multimode bismuth-doped graded-index fibers: toward "watt-level" output power.

In this Letter, we investigated the potential scalability of output power of a cladding-pumped laser and a power amplifier (booster) based on a multimode Bi-doped fiber (BDF) using the mode-selection approach. We fabricated the multimode double-clad graded-index (GRIN) fiber with a confined Bi-doped germanosilicate glass core with a diameter of ≈30 and ≈60 µm. Using femtosecond (fs) inscription technology with high spatial resolution, Bragg gratings of a special transverse structure allowing the selection of low-order modes were written into the core of BDFs.

Cladding pumped bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers operating in O-, E-, and S-telecom bands.

Bismuth-doped fibers (BDFs) are considered nowadays as an essential part of the development of novel optical amplifiers, which can provide a significant upgrade to existing fiber optic telecommunication systems, securing multiband data transmission. In this paper, a series of BDF amplifiers (BDFAs) for O-, E-, and S-telecom bands based on a cladding pumping scheme using low-cost multimode semiconductor laser diodes at a wavelength of 0.7-0.

Cladding-pumped bismuth-doped fiber laser.

For the first time, to the best of the authors' knowledge, a cladding-pumped bismuth-doped fiber laser (BDFL) is demonstrated. A "home-made" Bi-doped germanosilicate fiber with a 125 µm circular outer cladding made of fused silica and coated by a low refractive index polymer is used as an active medium pumped by commercial multimode laser diodes with a total output power of 25 W at 808 nm. We find that the BDFL with a free-running cavity (when feedback is provided by ≈4% back reflection from two bare right-angle cleaved fiber ends) composed of a 100-m-long bismuth-doped fiber is capable of emitting at a wavelength of 1440 nm.

Compact and efficient O-band bismuth-doped phosphosilicate fiber amplifier for fiber-optic communications.

During last decades there has been considerable interest in developing a fiber amplifier for the 1.3-[Formula: see text]m spectral region that is comparable in performance to the Er-doped fiber amplifier operating near 1.55 [Formula: see text]m.

Bend-insensitive bismuth-doped PO-SiO glass core fiber for a compact O-band amplifier.

For the first time, we report on the fabrication of a bend-insensitive single-mode bismuth (Bi)-doped $ {{\rm P}_2}{{\rm O}_5} {-} {{\rm SiO}_2} $PO-SiO fiber having a depressed cladding design and study its gain characteristics at a spectral region of 1.3-1.4 µm.

Photostability of laser-active centers in bismuth-doped GeO-SiO glass fibers under pumping at 1550 nm.

We report experimental measurements and numerical calculations regarding the photostability of laser-active centers associated with bismuth (BACs) in Bi-doped GeO-SiO glass fibers under pumping at 1550 nm at different temperatures. It was discovered that BACs are unstable under 1550-nm pumping when the temperature is elevated to hundreds of degrees centigrade. A simple numerical model was proposed to account for the discovered instability which turned out to be in good agreement with the experimental data.

Formation of laser-active centers in bismuth-doped high-germania silica fibers by thermal treatment.

The effect of thermal annealing on the luminescent and laser properties of high-germania-core silicate fibers doped with bismuth was investigated. We studied the behavior of optical absorption assigned to the bismuth-related active centers associated with germanium as well as the behavior of unsaturable absorption in annealed fibers with respect to the Bi content. The dependence of the increment of the active center content on the Bi concentration in the annealed fibers was obtained.

Anti-Stokes luminescence in bismuth-doped silica and germania-based fibers.

Luminescence excitation spectra of active centers in bismuth-doped vitreous SiO(2) and vitreous GeO(2) optical fibers under the two-step excitation have been obtained for the first time. The results revealed only one bismuth-related IR active center formed in each of these fibers. The observed IR luminescence bands at 1430 nm (1650 nm) and 830 nm (950 nm), yellow-orange (red) band at 580 nm (655 nm), violet (blue) band at 420 nm (480 nm) belong to this bismuth-related active center in the vitreous SiO(2) (vitreous GeO(2)), correspondingly.

Optical gain and laser generation in bismuth-doped silica fibers free of other dopants.

Luminescence emission and excitation spectra of bismuth-doped silica optical fibers free of other dopants have been obtained to construct an emission-excitation map in a wide wavelength range of 400-1600 nm. The main low-lying energy levels of the bismuth active centers in such fibers have been determined. For the first time (to our knowledge), optical gain and lasing have been obtained in such fibers.