Optimized And Low Cost Praseodymim-doped Fluoride Fiber Optical

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP OPTIMIZED, HIGH PERFORMANCE AND LOW COST FIBER OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS FOR USE IN THE 1300 NM SIGNAL WAVELENGTH. WE PLAN TO SHOW THE FEASIBILITY OF OUR APPROACH BY CARRYING OUT MEASUREMENTS IN AN ASSEMBLED LABORATORY SET-UP. WE WILL COMPARE THESE RESULTS WITH OUR THEORETICAL PREDICTIONS WITH A COMPUTER MODEL, CALLED MEDAL. THIS MODEL HAS PROVEN ACCURATE WITH OUR WORK ON ERBIUM-DOPED FIBER AMPLIFIERS (EDFAs). PREDICTIONS CAN THEN BE MADE ON THE EXPECTED PERFORMANCE IN THE PHASE II PROTOTYPES TO BE DEVELOPED. THE UNIQUENESS OF OUR APPROACH IS THE USE OF (i) NOVEL PUMP REFLECTING MIRROR CONFIGURATIONS WITH (ii) FAIRLY SHORT LENGTHS (6 M) OF HIGH NUMERICAL APERTURE, AND HIGHLY DOPED, Pr-DOPED FIBERS, (iii) OPTIMIZED SINGLEMODE DESIGNS FOR FABRICATING THE 1017/1310 NM WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXERS, AND (iv) THE EVENTUAL USE, IN PHASE II, OF NEWLY DEVELOP HIGH POWER (1W) MASTER OSCILLATOR POWER AMPLIFIER (MOPA) SEMICONDUCTOR LASER STRUCTURES. THESE ARE THE FIRST DEVICES WHICH SEEM ADEQUATE FOR DEVELOPING COMMERCIAL PDFFOAs WITH HIGH GAIN AND LOW COST. WITH THESE DEVICES AND OUR UNIQUE APPROACH, WE BELIEVE THAT THE PERFORMANCE AND COST OF PDFFOAs WILL BE COMPARABLE TO THAT OF EDFAs FOR THE FIRST TIME.