TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON THE EMISSION PROPERTIES OF Yb-DOPED FIBERS (Postprint)

Ytterbium-doped fiber lasers are making impressive leaps in power production. Yet in spite of fibers large surface area to volume ratio which is beneficial for cooling, such power inevitably leads to high core temperatures that in turn affect the laser performance. In this letter, the temperature effects on the emission and fluorescence lifetime of ytterbium doped optical fibers are investigated. From these the temperature dependent emission and absorption cross sections are calculated. A corresponding theoretical treatment presents the necessary conditions to eliminate radiation trapping. ©2006 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (060.2270) Fiber characterization; (060.2290) Fiber materials; (160.5690) Rare earth doped materials; (300.2140) Emission References and Links 1. S. Z. Zhao, A. Rapaport, J. Dong, B. Chen, P. Z. Deng, and M. Bass, “Temperature dependence of the 1.03 μm stimulated emission cross section of Cr:Yb:YAG crystal,” Opt. Mat. 27, 1329-1332 (2005). 2. S. Sumida and T. Y. Fan, “Emission spectra and fluorescence lifetime measurements of Yb:YAG as a function of temperature,” OSA Proc. Adv. Solid State Lasers 20, 100-102, (1994). 3. T. Sun, Z.Y. Zhang, K.T.V. Grattan, and A. W. Palmer, “Ytterbium-based fluorescence decay time fiber optic temperature sensor systems,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 69, 4179-4185 (1998). 4. E. Maurice, S.A. Wade, S.F. Collins, G. Monnom and G.W. Baxter, “Self-referenced point temperature sensor based on a fluorescence intensity ratio in Yb-doped silica fiber,” Appl. Opt. 36, 8264-8269 (1997). 5. D.A. Grukh, A. S. Kurkov, V. M. Paramonov, and E. M. Dianov, “Effect of heating on the optical properties of Yb3+ -doped fibres and fibre lasers,” Quantum Electron., 34, 579-582 (2004). 6. H. M. Pask, R. J. Carman, D.C. Hanna, A.C. Tropper, C.J. Mackechnie, P. R. Barber, and J. M. Dawes, “Ytterbium-doped silica fiber lasers: versatile sources for the 1-1.2 μm region,” IEEE Select. Topics Quantum. Electron. 1, 2-13 (1995). 7. J. Y. Allain, M. Monerie, H. Poignant, “Ytterbium-doped fluoride fibre laser operating at 1.02 μm,” Electron. Lett. 28, 988-9 (1992). 8. D.C. Hanna, R. M. Percival, I. R. Perry, R. G. Smart, P.J. Suni, A.C. Tropper, “An ytterbium-doped monomode fibre laser: broadly tunable operation from 1.010 μm to 1.162 μm and three-level operation at 974 nm,” J. Mod. Opt. 37, 517-25 (1990). 9. Z. Zhang, K.T.V. Grattan, and A.W Palmer, “Thermal characteristics of alexandrite fluorescence decay at high temperatures, induced by a visible laser diode emission”, J. Appl. Phys. 73, 3493-3498 (1993). 10. E. McCumber, “Theory of phonon-terminated optical masers,” Phys. Rev. 134, A299-A306 (1964). 11. F. Moulton, “Spectroscopic and laser characteristics of Ti:Al2O3,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 3, 125-133 (1986). 12. S. R. Bowman, S. P. O’Connor, and S. Biswal, "Ytterbium laser with reduced thermal loading," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 41, 15101517 (2005). 13. S. Dai, A. Sugiyama, L. Hu, S. Liu, G. Huand, and Z. Jiang, “The spectrum and laser properties of ytterbium doped phosphate glass at low temperatures,” J. of Non-Crystalline Solids, 311, 138-144(2002).