Preparation and Properties of Er-Doped ZrO2 Nanocrystalline Phase-Separated Preforms of Optical Fibers by MCVD Process

TL;DR

This paper reports the fabrication of Er-doped ZrO2 nanocrystalline phase-separated optical preforms using MCVD and solution doping, achieving high dopant concentrations with minimal defects and analyzing their spectral properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for creating Er-doped ZrO2 nanocrystalline preforms with high dopant levels and good optical quality using MCVD and solution doping techniques.

Findings

Preforms are nearly transparent with nanocrystalline particles 20-80 nm in size.

High Er and Al concentrations achieved without defects.

Spectral losses and fluorescence spectra measured in the 800-1600 nm range.

Abstract

The fabrication of Er-doped ZrO2-based nanocrystalline phase-separated silica optical preforms by the MCVD and solution doping techniques is presented. Fabricated preform cores are nearly transparent and contain phase-separated rare-earth doped nanocrystalline particles with diameters mainly in a range from 20 to 80 nm. High concentrations of erbium and aluminium in preform cores of about 0.3 and 14 mol%, respectively have been achieved without defects on the core-cladding interface. Spectral losses in a range 800-1600 nm and fluorescence spectra of erbium ions around 1550 nm measured on a fibre drawn from the preform are reported.