Silica Fibre Fabrication

Novel optical fibre is at the heart of optical fibre research at the Optoelectronics Research Centre.

The role of the Silica Fibre Fabrication group, led by Jayanta Sahu, is to research and fabricate new fibre structures in collaboration with other research groups working on the applications of these fibres.

Examples of the fibre we develop are:

• Large mode area fibre for high power fibre lasers
• Double clad fibres
• High birefringence fibres
• Holey fibres
• Photosensitive fibres (for Bragg gratings)
• Novel dopant fibres for lasers and amplifiers
• Fibres for nonlinear application

We work on all aspects of fibre fabrication from Materials Science and Chemistry, to achieve the desired fibre composition, to Physics and Engineering, to develop novel structures and fabrication techniques.

The ORC has a long history of research on fabrication of silica fibre. Much of the development work on the key fibre fabrication processes, such as MCVD, solution doping, and fibre drawing was done at Southampton University. This work has been the foundation of all the fibre based research that the ORC has produced, leading to many world firsts including the Erbium doped fibre amplifier and more recently key results within the fields of high power fibre lasers, Bragg gratings, etc.

The work of the silica fibre fabrication group supports the research of around 50 other scientists within the ORC, who work on applications of the fibre. The ORC has been extremely successful in working with industry in this area, collaborating with over a dozen companies. These collaborations range from commercial supply of specialty fibre to extensive research contracts. We are open to collaborations with new partners.

This is a selection of our current research projects:

Large mode area (LMA) fibres

• Application - high power fibre lasers
• Double clad
• Low NA
• Photodarkening free
• Active dopants

Fibre for KW class fibre lasers

• Active dopants - Erbium, Neodymium, Thulium, Ytterbium
• Active co-dopants - Erbium and Ytterbium
• Novel structures to improve pump cooling

Birefringent fibre

• Linear birefringence
• Circular birefringence

New fibre laser wavelengths / improved laser performance

• Active dopants - Thulium, Neodymium, Ytterbium
• Materials studies
• Bismuth

Photosensitive fibre

• Active dopants - Tin, Germanium

Holey fibre

• Novel structures
• Active structures

Poling silica fibre

• Fibres with electrodes to provide high electrical field strength across the core