Rare-earth doped single crystal (SC) yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) fibers have great potential as high-power laser gain media. SC fibers combine the superior material properties of crystals with the advantages of a fiber geometry. Improving processing techniques, growth of low-loss YAG SC fibers have been reported. A low-cost technique that allows for the growth of optical quality Ho:YAG single crystal (SC) fibers with different dopant concentrations have been developed and discussed. This technique is a low-cost sol-gel based method which offers greater flexibility in terms of dopant concentration. Self-segregation of Nd ions in YAG SC fibers have been observed. Such a phenomenon can be utilized to fabricate monolithic SC fibers with graded index.
Rare-earth doped single-crystal (SC) Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) fibers are excellent candidates for high power lasers. These SC fiber optics combine the favorable low Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) gain coefficient and excellent thermal properties to make them an attractive alternative to glass fiber lasers and amplifiers. Various rare-earth doped SC fibers have been grown using the laser heated pedestal growth (LHPG) technique. Several cladding methods, including in-situ and post-growth cladding techniques, are discussed in this paper. A rod-in-tube approach has been used by to grow a fiber with an Erbium doped SC YAG fiber core inserted in a SC YAG tube. The result is a radial gradient in the distribution of rare-earth ions. Post cladding methods include sol-gel deposited polycrystalline.
0.5% Holmium (Ho) doped YAG single crystal fiber (SCF) was fabricated using the laser heated pedestal growth
(LHPG) method and amplification properties of the fabricated Ho:YAG SCF were studied. The relatively large lengthto-
diameter ratio provides guiding for both the pump and signal beams propagating in the SCF. The propagation and
gain of signals with different modes were studied. A numerical method based on finite difference (FD) beam
propagation method (BPM) combined with the rate equations was developed for theoretical simulation. The results are
encouraging to demonstrate the advantages of SCF for its fiber-like beam guiding property and solid state material gain
property. The simulation tool provides details about how the fiber shape and launched mode affect the gain and output
beam shape as well as predicts the amplification behavior of such unique specialty fibers.
Single crystal (SC) yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG, Y3Al5O12) as a host material has the ability to be doped with high
concentrations of Er3+ ions. We utilize this ability to grow a 50% Er3+ doped YAG SC fiber, which was inserted into
a SC YAG tube. This rod-in-tube was used as a preform in our laser-heated pedestal growth (LHPG) apparatus to
grow a fiber with a radial distribution of Er3+ ions. The work shows that there is a distribution of Er3+ ions from their
fluorescence and two different techniques were used to measure the index of refraction.
High concentrations of the rare-earth elements erbium, holmium and thulium have been successfully doped into single crystal (SC) yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG, Y3Al5O12) fibers by use of the laser heated pedestal growth (LHPG) method. The spontaneous emission spectra and fluorescence were measured in the near-infrared (NIR). The results show progress towards forming a solid state laser able to produce a wavelength in the NIR, for high power applications.
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