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The first ruby laser, developed by Theodore Maiman in 1960 initiated the era of laser technology, characterized by rapid progress in all fields benefiting from unique features of coherent radiation sources. Among various types of lasers developed so far, fiber lasers plays continuously increasing role in those areas where high output powers and high efficiency combined with single mode operation and excellent heat dissipation are of concern. In the recent years, fiber laser-based systems dominated the market of material processing (cutting, welding, hardening, etc.) and military systems, while rare-earth doped fiber amplifiers became a key element of modern telecommunication systems.
It should be noted, however, that despite a large number of fiber lasers manufacturers around the world, there are only a few companies with technological skills enabling manufacturing the active fibers of sufficient quality. In this work we would like to show the progress of Polish research teams in this field. The R&D works, conducted for the last few years in cooperation with Laboratory of Fiber Optic Technology at the Faculty of Chemistry of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, enabled mastering the technology of manufacturing the first active optical fibers applicable to laser systems.
In this work the overview of the technology will be presented together with the results of characterization of ytterbium, erbium, thulium and dysprosium doped optical fibers, dedicated to laser applications. The absorption/emission spectra and luminescence kinetics profiles of active preforms and optical fibers will be discussed and compared to the results obtained for commercially available samples. Also the results of amplification and laser experiments will be presented and perspectives of the active fiber technology in Poland will be discussed.
This work has received partial support from the National Centre for Research and Development through project NMKM+ (TECHMATSTRATEG1/348438/16/NCBR/2018).
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