At OFC/NFOEC 2006 (March 5-10; Anaheim, CA), Fibercore Limited (Southampton, England) introduced the first all-silica cladding-pump polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber. The fiber uses two of the company’s patented and field-proven technologies-the phosphorus-doped erbium-ytterbium core in combination with its quasi-polygonal, sinusoidal (QPS) all-silica cladding-pump structure, originally developed for high-power cable-television amplifiers-and now incorporates stress rods (seen here as green) to create a polarization-maintaining fiber. The stress rods not only create the required birefringence, but also aid mode mixing to increase the efficiency of pump-power conversion.
The new fiber will be targeted primarily at medium-power fiber-laser applications that need the eye-safe benefits of 1550 nm, polarization maintenance, and an all-silica structure for increased reliability. Free-space communications, light detection and ranging, and interferometric-sensor applications will benefit from the elimination of signal fading due to polarization drift and will be obvious market targets when production versions of the new fiber reach the market this summer. Contact Chris Emslie at [email protected].