Abstract

The utilization of ⁴F_3/2–⁴I_13/2 transition of Nd³⁺ ions is one of the promising ways to solve the problem of 1,3 pm optical amplifier for fiber communication. The following difficulties have to be overcome on this way. First of all it is necessary to find Nd³⁺ doped material having fluorescence in 1.3 ± 0.2 µm band, that is rarely characteristic of Nd³⁺ doped media. Secondly the material with suitable fluorescence spectrum has to possess small exited-state absorption (ESA) at the ⁴F_3/2–⁴G_7/2 transition in the desired gain band. In this paper we present some results on spectroscopic investigations of Nd³⁺ doped fluoride crystals and analyze possibilities of their application for 1.3 µm fiber optic amplifiers.

© 1994 Optical Society of America