Four years after the first demonstration of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation in a Ruby crystal by Theodore Maiman in 1960, C. J. Koester and E. Snitzer transferred this new and groundbreaking laser concept to Neodymium doped glass waveguides and paved the way for modern fiber lasers. The prediction of low loss optical fibers for long-distance optical communication by C. Kao in 1966 and the first demonstration of a fiber with only 20 dB/km loss by Corning laboratories in 1973 triggered major R&D investments in the second half of the 20th century. The development of specialty optical fibers was facilitated by the introduction of the stack-and-draw fiber manufacturing technique, which enabled the fabrication of more complex fiber structures and expanded the application space of optical fiber technology. This dissertation is divided into four chapters. The first chapter provides a short review of the history of optical fibers and their application in fiber laser systems as well as an outline of this dissertation. In the second chapter, Ytterbium based single mode high average power fiber amplifiers and their average power limitations are discussed. In particular, the concept of spatially confining the gain to certain regions of the fiber’s core is discussed in detail as one strategy to overcome some of these limitations. Furthermore, the development of a narrow line width high power fiber laser system is discussed. The third chapter discusses the potential of disordered glass-air Anderson localization fiber for broad band super continuum generation and the fourth chapter discusses the pulse energy scaling potential of Ytterbium doped multicore fiber saturable absorbers for ultrafast fiber oscillators.

Specialty Optical Fibers reviews theoretical and experimental photonic research relevant to the synthesis, processing, characterization, modeling, physical features, and applications of Specialty Optical Fibers (SOFs) with significant technological impact potential. All fiber-based advanced photonics device components rely on specialty optical fibers, which have either a unique waveguide structure or a novel material composition. High power optical amplifiers, high power fiber, and novel fabrication techniques for optical fiber design have enabled significant technological advances. The book provides discussion on these applications including current research directions, future opportunities and remaining challenges.Specialty Optical Fibers is suitable for researchers in academia and practitioners in R&D working in the subject areas of materials science, electrical engineering, and fiber optics. - Includes an overview of specialty optical fiber materials design and fabrication technologies - Reviews fundamentals of the most relevant optical fiber materials, including their physics, chemistry, and optoelectronics principles - Explores current research directions and future opportunities and challenges of utilization of optical fibers for a wide range of diverse applications

This book is a comprehensive contributed volume that aims to describe and explain the design, fabrication, operating characteristics, and specific applications of the most popular and useful types of specialty optical fibers. These "specialty fibers include any kind of optical fiber that has been architecturally manipulated to diverge from a conventional structure. For instance, metal-coated fibers can be utilized for bandwidth improvement, and hollow core fibers offer more controllable dispersion for sensitive medical procedures. Applications for these specialty fibers abound in the biomedical, sensors, and industrial fields, as well as in more traditional communications capacities. This book will act as a specialty fiber "guided tour, hosted by the top names in the discipline. The globally renowned editors, Drs. Mendez and Morse, have extensive experience in research, academia, and industry.*Completely covers biomedical and industrial sensor technology with emphasis on real world applications *Comparative studies of pros and cons of all fiber types with relation to test and measurement, mechanical properties and strength, and reliability*Easy to access essential facts and details at the begining of each chapter

At the Dawn of the 21st century, the field of specialty optical fibers experienced a scientific revolution with the introduction of the stack-and-draw technique, a multi-steps and advanced fiber fabrication method, which enabled the creation of well-controlled micro-structured designs. Since then, an extremely wide variety of finely tuned fiber structures have been demonstrated including novel materials and novel designs. As the complexity of the fiber design increased, highly-controlled fabrication processes became critical. To determine the ability of a novel fiber design to deliver light with properties tailored according to a specific application, several mode analysis techniques were reported, addressing the recurring needs for in-depth fiber characterization. The first part of this dissertation details a novel experiment that was demonstrated to achieve modal decomposition with extended capabilities, reaching beyond the limits set by the existing mode analysis techniques. As a result, individual transverse modes carrying between ~0.01% and ~30% of the total light were resolved with unmatched accuracy. Furthermore, this approach was employed to decompose the light guided in Large-Mode Area (LMA) fiber, Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) and Leakage Channel Fiber (LCF). The single-mode performances were evaluated and compared. As a result, the suitability of each specialty fiber design to be implemented for power-scaling applications of fiber laser systems was experimentally determined.

The fiber laser, with its humble beginning in the late 1980s, has undergone tremendous development in the past decade or so, transforming itself from a research curiosity to a major force in modern manufacturing. Today, it is revolutionizing our economy by fundamentally changing the way we mark, machine, and process materials on an industrial scale. The recent development of high-power fiber lasers is also fundamentally shaping a wide range of other areas from physical sciences and medicine to geology and space exploration. In the past few years, the tactical deployment of direct energy weapons based on fiber lasers has become a reality. The development of fiber lasers is rooted in a number of technical areas including optical materials, optical waveguide design, nonlinear optics, optical fiber fabrication, and optical characterization, in addition to optical fiber components, and fiber laser design and architecture. No comprehensive in-depth coverage of such diverse topical areas has appeared in a single book. Many important developments have taken place in the past decade in both academia and industry. This book comprehensively covers the basics, technology and applications of fiber lasers including up-to-date developments in both academia and industry and is aimed to serve as both an introduction and research aid for graduate students, engineers, and scientists who are new to this field and also for veterans in the field

This book covers the fundamental aspects of fiber lasers and fiber amplifiers, and includes a wide range of material from laser physics fundamentals to state-of-the-art topics in this rapidly growing field of quantum electronics. This expanded and updated new edition includes substantial new material on nonlinear frequency conversion and Raman fiber lasers and amplifiers, as well as an expanded list of references inclusive of the recent literature in the field. Emphasis is placed on the nonlinear processes taking place in fiber lasers and amplifiers, their similarities, differences to, and their advantages over other solid-state lasers. The reader will learn the basic principles of solid-state physics and optical spectroscopy of laser active centers in fibers, the main operational laser regimes, and will receive practical recommendations and suggestions on fiber laser research, laser applications, and laser product development. The book will be useful for students, researchers, and professional physicists and engineers who work with lasers in the optical and telecommunications field, as well as those in the chemical and biological industries.

Optical Fiber Technology and Applications: Recent Advances, comprised of 10 chapters written by leading experts in the field, documents the cutting-edge work of new material composition and waveguide design-based specialty optical fibers and their photonic devices. Highlighting the most recent progress and trends in optical fiber technology, this book covers important topics such as specialty optical fibers, optical amplifiers, radiation dosimetry, borosilicate glass, radiation effect, fiber optic temperature sensors, pulsed fiber laser, non-linear fiber optics, solitons, supercontinuum generation, and fiber-optic-based 5G networks. Solely devoted to the most recent achievements in the development of different varieties of specialty optical fibers, this book serves as a universal resource for future development in the field while providing students, researchers, and technology managers with valuable, timely, and unbiased information on the subject. Key Features Up-to-date overview of optical fiber materials and their wide applications. Broad scope with insights from experts in the field. Serves as a universal resource for future development in the field while providing students, researchers, and technology managers with valuable, timely, and unbiased information on the subject.

This book is a collection of contributions by selected active researchers in the optical fiber fields highlighting the design, fabrication, and application of optical fibers and fiber systems and covering various topics such as microstructured optical fibers, polymer fibers, nonlinear effects, optical tweezers, and gyroscopic systems. The goal of the book is to provide an updated overview of the current research trends in the optical fiber fields, serving as a general reference for the recent development in optical fiber technologies, though inevitably many topics are not covered.

This Book Presents A Comprehensive Overview Of The Present Day Status Of Optical Fibre And Laser Technology, Stating Their Principles And Various Applications Including Optical Telecommunications Largely Avoiding Mathematical Treatment.Keeping The Idea In Mind That We Understand The Subject Better By Doing Experiments On It, Large Number Of Experiments On Laser And Optical Fibre Have Been Included Starting From Very Simple Demonstration To Complicated Ones.Some Theoretical Discussions Are Also Included In The Appendix As A Ready Reference. These Are - Dual Nature Of Light, Electromagnetic Wave, Interference, Diffraction And Polarization Of Light, Propagation Modes Through Optical Fibre Waveguide, Basic Digital Communication And Networking In Telecommunication.The Curricula Of These Emerging Fields Of Study Are Constantly Being Updated With The Rapid Growth Of Technology. With This View In Mind, The Areas Beyond The Present Day Curriculum Of Degree / Diploma Engineering Level Have Also Been Covered In This Book. The Students Of Degree / Diploma Engineering In Electronics / Electronics & Telecommunication As Well As Students Of Any Other Engineering Discipline And Undergraduate Applied Physics Would Find This Book Well Informative. The Post Graduate Students / Readers With Advanced Knowledge Can Also Use This Book For Ready Reference.

From basic physics to new products, Silica Optical Fiber Technology for Device and Components examines all aspects of specialty optical fibers. Moreover, the inclusion of the latest international standards governing optical fibers enables you to move from research to fabrication to commercialization. • Reviews all the latest specialty optical fiber technologies, including those developed for high capacity WDM applications; broadband fiber amplifiers; fiber filleters based on periodic coupling; fiber branching devices; and fiber terminations • Discusses key differences among single mode fibers, multimode fibers for high speed Ethernet LAN, and dispersion compensating fibers for long-haul applications • Compares the most recently developed conventional optical fibers with the latest photonic crystal fibers still in development A self-contained, menu-driven software program is included for optical fiber design, simulating waveguide structures for most of the fibers discussed in the book.