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. The operation features of the cladding-pumped multimode bismuth-doped GRIN fiber lasers with the inscribed Bragg gratings with various reflection coefficients were investigated. In addition, the behavior of the output power and the beam quality (M2 parameter) of the optical radiation of the developed devices was studied. The CW laser and booster operating at nearly 1.45 µm with maximum output powers of ≈0.8 and ≈1 W, respectively, based on the 60-µm-core BDF under pumping by multimode laser diodes at 808 nm were developed, which are, to the best of our knowledge, the most powerful cladding-pumped BDF devices to date. Near single-mode lasing (M2 <1.3) is demonstrated for a 30-µm-core fiber. The experimental data open new possibilities to achieve higher powers in cladding-pumped BDF sources, which are more cost-effective compared to core-pumped counterparts.

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 0.7-0.8 µm were demonstrated for, it is understood, the first time. The developed BDFAs are characterized by a high peak gain of >25-30 dB in the corresponding telecom bands and a relatively low noise figure of 5-6 dB. Comparative analysis shows that most of the parameters of cladding pumped BDFAs are close to those of the best core pumped ones. This research opens up new opportunities for utilizing Bi-doped fibers as a key element of cost-effective and ready-to-work BDFAs for various practical applications.

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. A slope efficiency of 0.5% with respect to the absorbed pump power with a maximum output power of ≈50 mW is obtained in a BDFL with a cavity formed by a highly reflective Bragg grating at 1461 nm and a right-angle cleaved fiber end. The beam quality factors (M2) of the output BDFL in the horizontal and vertical directions are measured to be 1.18 and 1.13, respectively. The processes affecting the efficiency of the BDFLs are also discussed. The possible improvements for the output power scaling and increasing the efficiency of the cladding-pumped BDFLs are proposed.

Heterodyne photothermal spectroscopy of methane near 1651 nm inside hollow-core fiber using a bismuth-doped fiber amplifier.

We present laser-based methane detection near 1651 nm inside an antiresonant hollow-core fiber (HCF) using photothermal spectroscopy (PTS). A bismuth-doped fiber amplifier capable of delivering up to more than 160 mW at 1651 nm is used to boost the PTS signal amplitude. The design of the system is described, and the impact of various experimental parameters (such as pump source modulation frequency, modulation amplitude, and optical power) on signal amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio is analyzed. Comparison with similar PTS/HCF-based systems is presented. With 1.3 m long HCF and a fiber amplifier for signal enhancement, this technique is capable of detecting methane at single parts-per-million levels, which makes this robust in-fiber sensing approach promising also for industrial applications such as, e.g., natural gas leak detection.

Radial distribution and absorption cross section of active centers in bismuth-doped phosphosilicate fibers.

Determination of the active centers distribution across the fiber core as well as calculation of absorption cross sections is a challenging task for all types of bismuth-doped fibers. This is due to the low concentration of active centers and the ability of the bismuth ions to form various centers in silica-based glasses. In this work, we demonstrate the results of experimental measurement of radial distribution of bismuth active centers associated with phosphorus in fiber core using the luminescence spectroscopy. The shape of the distribution turned out to have prominent reduction of the active centers in the middle of the core. With these data, absorption cross section spectra were calculated by two methods. Both approaches demonstrated close values of absorption cross sections regardless the bismuth concentration and fiber geometry. The maximum of the absorption cross section was found to be 2.1 ± 0.3 pm2.

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. It is due to the fact that most of the existing fiber-optic communication systems that dominate terrestrial networks could be used for the data transmission in O-band (1260-1360 nm), where dispersion compensation is not required, providing a low-cost increase of the capacity. In this regard, significant efforts of the research laboratories were initially directed towards the study of the praseodymium-doped fluoride fiber amplifier having high gain and output powers at the desired wavelengths. However, despite the fact that this type of amplifiers had rapidly appeared as a commercial amplifier prototype it did not receive widespread demand in the telecom industry because of its low efficiency. It stimulated the search of novel optical materials for this purpose. About 10 years ago, a new type of bismuth-doped active fibers was developed, which turned out to be a promising medium for amplification at 1.3 [Formula: see text]m. Here, we report on the development of a compact and efficient 20-dB (achieved for signal powers between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] dBm) bismuth-doped fiber amplifier for a wavelength region of 1300-1350 nm in the forward, backward and bi-directional configurations, which can be pumped by a commercially available laser diode at 1230 nm with an output power of 250 mW. The compactness of the tested amplifier was provided by using a depressed cladding active fiber with low bending loss, which was coiled on a reel with a radius of 1.5 cm. We studied the gain and noise figure characteristics at different pump and signal powers. A record gain coefficient of 0.18 dB/mW (at the pump-to-signal power conversion efficiency of above 27[Formula: see text]) has been achieved.

Bend-insensitive bismuth-doped P2O5-SiO2 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} $P2O5-SiO2 fiber having a depressed cladding design and study its gain characteristics at a spectral region of 1.3-1.4 µm. It was shown that the obtained Bi-doped fiber can efficiently operate in the spectral band even at a bend radius of 1.5 cm. In addition, it was shown that this type of fiber has a smaller mode-field diameter in comparison with a step-index single-mode Bi-doped $ {{\rm P}_2}{{\rm O}_5} {-} {{\rm SiO}_2} $P2O5-SiO2 fiber with $ \Delta {n} \approx 0.006 $Δn≈0.006 that resulted in a decrease of saturation power and, as a consequence, in a reduction of the total pump power required to a high-level-gain operation. The laser and gain experiments show the possibility of the construction of a compact high-performance optical amplifier for O-band based on the depressed-cladding Bi-doped fiber.

Photostability of laser-active centers in bismuth-doped GeO2-SiO2 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 GeO2-SiO2 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.

Bismuth-doped fiber laser at 1.32 µm mode-locked by single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Bismuth-doped fiber is a promising active media for pulsed lasers operating in various spectral regions. In this paper, we report on a picosecond mode-locked laser at a wavelength of 1.32 µm, based on a phosphosilicate fiber doped with bismuth. Stable self-starting generation of dissipative solitons, using single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) as a saturable absorber, was achieved. Evolution of the pulsed regime, depending on pump power, and stability of the pulsing were investigated.

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. We achieved laser oscillations near a wavelength of 1700 nm with a slope efficiency of 18% using a 8.5 m long Bi-doped fiber. The comparison of the output parameters of the laser based on an annealed Bi-doped fiber with the ones of a pristine Bi-doped fiber laser is given. The performance of the obtained bismuth-doped fiber lasers was modeled using the propagation and rate equations of a homogeneous quasi-two-level laser medium. Theoretical results are compared with experimental ones.

A 23-dB bismuth-doped optical fiber amplifier for a 1700-nm band.

It is now almost twenty-five years since the first Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated. Currently, the EDFA is one of the most important elements widely used in different kinds of fiber-optic communication systems. However, driven by a constantly increasing demand, the network traffic, growing exponentially over decades, will lead to the overload of these systems ("capacity crunch") because the operation of the EDFA is limited to a spectral region of 1530-1610 nm. It will require a search for new technologies and, in this respect, the development of optical amplifiers for new spectral regions can be a promising approach. Most of fiber-optic amplifiers are created using rare-earth-doped materials. As a result, wide bands in shorter (1150-1530 nm) and longer wavelength (1600-1750 nm) regions with respect to the gain band of Er-doped fibers are still uncovered. Here we report on the development of a novel fiber amplifier operating in a spectral region of 1640-1770 nm pumped by commercially available laser diodes at 1550 nm. This amplifier was realized using bismuth-doped high-germania silicate fibers fabricated by MCVD technique.

Photobleaching effect in bismuth-doped germanosilicate fibers.

Photoinduced reduction of absorption (photobleaching) in bismuth-doped germanosilicate fibers irradiated with 532-nm laser has been observed for the first time. It was demonstrated that bismuth-related active centers having the absorption bands at wavelengths of 1400 and 1700 nm degrade under photoexcitation at 532 nm. The photobleaching process rate was estimated using conventional stretched exponential technique. It was found that the photobleaching rate in bismuth-doped germanosilicate fibers does not depend on type of bismuth-related active center. The possible underlying mechanism of photobleaching process in bismuth-doped fibers is discussed.

Bismuth-doped optical fibers and fiber lasers for a spectral region of 1600-1800 nm.

Bismuth-doped optical fibers and fiber lasers operating in 1625-1775 nm range have been developed for the first time to the best of our knowledge. Now the existing bismuth-doped lasers, including the result presented in this Letter, can cover O, E, S, C, L, and U telecommunication bands. In addition, new data on the nature of the bismuth-related active center were obtained and discussed.