Igor A. Bufetov

Bi-Doped Optical Fibers and Fiber Lasers

The current state of the art in infrared Bi-doped fiber laser research is reviewed. The relevant fiber glass compositions and fiber technologies are introduced. Lasers operating on transitions ranging from 1.15 to 1.55 μm occurring in the bismuth active centers and their energy level schemes are discussed on the basis of the spectroscopic properties of these centers. Continuous-wave fundamental-mode power levels ranging from a few mW near 1.55 μm up to 16 W near 1.16 μm and 22 W near 1.46 μm have been demonstrated in recent years.

Bi-doped fiber lasers and amplifiers for a spectral region of 1300–1470 nm

Bismuth-doped fiber lasers operating in the range 1300-1470 nm have been demonstrated for the first time, to our knowledge. It has been shown that Bi-doped alumina-free phosphogermanosilicate fibers reveal optical gain in a wavelength range of 1240-1485 nm with pumping at 1205, 1230, or 808 nm.

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. A gain of 8 dB has been achieved with a pump power of 340 mW, and a cw fiber laser emitting at 1460 nm with an output power of 40 mW and an efficiency of ≈3% has been created.

Bismuth activated alumosilicate optical fibers fabricated by surface-plasma chemical vapor deposition technology

Plasma chemical technology is experimentally applied to the fabrication of a Bi-activated alumosilicate-core pure-silica-cladding fiber preform. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this technology has been applied in this way. We measure gain efficiency at pumping by a 1058 nm wavelength Yb fiber laser in a piece of a newly obtained fiber 20 m in length within 100-1200 nm wavelengths band. The gain efficiency reaches as high as 0.2 dB/mW. Bi-activated alumosilicate-core pure-silica-cladding fiber that is not more than 12 m in length serves a basis for a 1 W output power fiber laser emitting at the wavelength of 1160 nm with 8% slope efficiency. We also measure the photoluminescence spectrum and kinetics of Bi centers responsible for laser emission under the excitation of 193 nm wavelength ArF laser pulses.

Efficient Bi-doped fiber lasers and amplifiers for the spectral region 1300-1500 nm

Watt-level Bi fiber lasers have been demonstrated at 1280, 1330, 1340, 1360 and 1480 nm with the maximum output power of up to 10W and with the efficiency of up to 50% for the first time. The bismuth-doped phosphogermanosilicate fiber amplifiers operating within the wavelength range 1300-1500 nm have been developed. The net gain of more than 20 dB at the wavelengths of 1320 and 1440 nm under the 200-300 mW pump power was obtained. The 3 dB bandwidth of the amplifiers was larger than 30 nm, the noise figure being 4-6 dB.

Superfluorescent 1.44 μm bismuth-doped fiber source

The first bismuth-doped superfluorescent fiber source operating at 1.44-μm was developed. At pump power of 200 mW and pump wavelength of 1310 nm, its output signal reaches 57 mW with spectrum width of 25 nm.

Hollow-core revolver fibre with a double-capillary reflective cladding

We report the fabrication of the first hollow-core revolver fibre with a core diameter as small as 25 μm and an optical loss no higher than 75 dB km-1 at a wavelength of 1850 nm. The decrease in core diameter, with no significant increase in optical loss, is due to the use of double nested capillaries in the reflective cladding design. A number of technical problems pertaining to the fabrication of such fibres are resolved.

1.32 μm mode-locked bismuth-doped fiber laser operating in anomalous and normal dispersion regimes.

We demonstrate a 1.32 μm mode-locked bismuth fiber laser operating in both anomalous and normal dispersion regimes. In anomalous dispersion regime, achieved by using 13 nm/cm linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating, the laser exhibits multiple soliton operation with pulse duration of 2.51 ps. With the net normal cavity dispersion, the single-pulse operation with higher power has been obtained by avoiding the limitations generic to conservative soliton systems.

Luminescence and optical gain in Pb-doped silica-based optical fibers

IR luminescence and optical gain in a Pb-doped fiber have been observed for the first time. Absorption, luminescence and pump on/pump off optical gain spectra, as well as luminescence decay time, have been measured in these fibers. Comparison of optical active center characteristics in Pb-doped and Bi-doped fibers of the same composition indicates an essential difference of optical active centers in these two types of fibers.

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.