An optical amplifier having 5 cm long silica-clad erbium doped phosphate glass fiber fabricated by "core-suction" technique

We have fabricated an erbium-doped phosphate glass fiber with a silica cladding and used 5 cm length of it to form an optical amplifier. A bulk erbium phosphate glass called MM2 was used as a core glass in a silica cladding tube to prepare a preform using "core-suction" technique. This MM2 glass preform was drawn to a fiber and the resultant fiber was of good optical quality, free from air bubbles and major defects. The fiber was mechanically strong enough to allow for ease of handling and could be spliced to conventional silica fiber using commercial fusion splicer. This fiber was then used to setup an EDFA. Our work demonstrates the potential to form silica clad optical fibers with phosphate cores doped with very high levels of rare-earth ions. It is demonstrated that the core suction technique can be used to make a high-gain erbium phosphate fiber amplifier that is compatible with conventional silica fibers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.