Ytterbium fiber laser based on first-order fiber Bragg gratings written with 400 nm femtosecond pulses and a phase-mask.

A Fiber Bragg grating of 369 nm pitch was inscribed in a germanium-free double-clad ytterbium doped silica fiber using a femto-second pulse train at 400 nm wavelength and a phase mask. The photo-induced refractive index modulation of higher than 4 x 10(-3) was obtained and the accompanying photo-induced losses were subsequently removed by thermal annealing, resulting in a low loss (<0.1 dB), stable and high reflectivity (>40 dB) FBG. Based on this FBG, a monolithic Ytterbium fiber laser operating at 1073 nm with slope efficiency of 71% and output power of 13 W was demonstrated.

Bragg gratings photoinduced in ZBLAN fibers by femtosecond pulses at 800 nm.

Fiber Bragg gratings were written in thulium-doped and undoped single-mode ZBLAN fibers by focusing femtosecond laser pulses on the fiber core through a phase mask. Maximum index modulation of the order of 1 x 10(-3) was induced in both types of fibers. Measurements of the transverse refractive index changes across the core and cladding regions indicate that the grating formation originates from a negative index change.

Optical breakdown versus filamentation in fused silica by use of femtosecond infrared laser pulses.

The competition between optical breakdown (OB) and laser-pulse filamentation (FL) in bulk fused silica is investigated by using a 1-kHz femtosecond infrared laser. We measure input powers corresponding to the threshold of OB and FL in terms of external focusing conditions. The results demonstrate that OB precedes FL for tight focusing, whereas for sufficiently long focal lengths FL takes places at a lower power than OB does.

Optical field-induced mass transport in As2S3 chalcogenide glasses.

We report the observation of a photorefractivelike nonlinearity responsible for the formation of giant relief modulations in amorphous semiconductor glasses. The photoinduced softening of the matrix, formation of defects with enhanced polarizability, and their drift under the optical field gradient force is believed to be the origin of the mass transport.