Phosphate glass fibers advance fiber-laser capabilities

The development and introduction of phosphate glass fibers has significantly improved fiber-laser capabilities. Multicomponent phosphate glasses have emerged as better host materials for amplifiers and lasers, offering high solubility for rare-earth ions, better optical properties, and resistance against damage by high optical powers. There are many types of these phosphate glass fibers that can be selected to build an application-specific fiber laser. The availability of compatible fiber-laser components, such as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) need to be considered in the selection process, to retain the main fiber-laser advantage of a robust, all-fiber architecture. It is expected that host glass materials and dopants will enable fiber lasers to emit at a larger variety of wavelengths in future and widen their applications.