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

Abstract

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.

Enhancement of Tetrahedral Chromium (Cr4+) Concentration for High-Gain in Single-Mode Crystalline Core Fibers

“…The rapidly increasing capacity of fiber transmission calls for a new generation of transport networks, including new active fibers for extended optical bandwidth. Currently, the capacity of optical transmission systems are limited to the usable gain bandwidth in rare earth-doped fiber amplifiers, which doesn't cover all the low-loss bandwidth from 1.3-1.6 μm [1]- [4]. Therefore, it is advisable to develop a fiber amplifier with broad covering of the low-loss transmitted bandwidth.…”

Introductory Chapter: Fiber Optics

“…Optical fibers play a crucial role in telecommunication. Applications can be found in many areas such as optical fiber lasers [13], optical fiber interferometers [14,15], optical fiber amplifier [16], and optical fiber sensors [17]. Especially the latter one has widespread applications in detecting magnetic fields [18], humidity [19], temperature [20], or biological molecules [21].…”

Synthesis, Structural and Optical Properties of Bismuth‐Doped Sol‐Gel‐Derived Phosphosilicate Glasses

“…Indeed, unlike the traditional rare‐earth‐doped hosts which have a relatively narrower operating spectral range, some Bi‐doped glasses show remarkably wide NIR luminescence bands in the spectral range 1000–1800 nm. This optical activity, which strongly depends on the composition of the glass, can be tailored depending on the co‐doping element (Al, P, Ge) and covering the whole telecommunication windows . On the other hand, even though NIR emission has been observed in a variety of Bi‐doped glasses, the origin of this emission is still controversial .…”