Design and fabrication of ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber with low non-linearity

We report on an ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber fabricated by laser sintering technology combined with a solution doping method. This novel fabrication process has never been reported to the best of our knowledge. Together with low non-linearity, this PCF combines the advantages of high pump absorption efficiency and bend-insensitive, which makes this fiber predestinated for the high power fiber laser applications. The fiber laser experiment was conducted with a simple Fabry-Perot cavity to verify the performance of the PCF. A high slope efficiency of similar to 70.6% was obtained from a 1.5 m-long fiber. During the experiment, no roll over was observed up to the highest power level, which was only limited by the available pump power. The experimental results reveal the enormous output power scaling potential of the PCF.