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US 11,909,166 B2Granted
Large-mode-area optical fibers and optical fiber amplifiers in the eye-safe regime
AssigneeLawrence Livermore National Security, LLC
InventorsPaul H. Pax, Jay W. Dawson, Victor V. Khitrov, Cody W. Mart, Michael J. Messerly, Michael Runkel, Charles X. Yu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present technology provides large mode area optical fibers engineered to have normal dispersion around 1600 nm, enabling high power Raman amplification at eye safer wavelengths. The fibers can have a main core and one or more side cores disposed relative to the main core so that modes of the main core and the one or more side cores hybridize into supermodes with modified dispersion.
Claims20
An optical fiber, comprising:
- a cladding;
- a main core;
- at least one side core having an index of refraction that is higher and a diameter that is smaller than that of said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core have an effective refractive index that varies faster with wavelength than the effective refractive index of modes of said main core, wherein said main core and said at least one side core are embedded within said cladding, wherein said at least one side core is located a distance from said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core and the modes of said main core hybridize into two supermodes having different dispersion than said modes of said main core and said modes of said at least one the side core, wherein when said main core and said at least one side core are placed in proximity, their modes hybridize around the wavelength at which their effective indices coincide, yielding supermodes with qualitatively different dispersion compared to the modes of said main core and said at least one side core isolated one from another;
- and
- a secondary cladding surrounding said cladding.
2 more elements
An optical fiber, comprising:
- a cladding;
- a main core;
- at least one side core having an index of refraction that is higher and a diameter that is smaller than that of said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core have an effective refractive index that varies faster with wavelength than the effective refractive index of modes of said main core, wherein said main core and said at least one side core are embedded within said cladding, wherein said at least one side core is located a distance from said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core and the modes of said main core hybridize into two supermodes having different dispersion than said modes of said main core and said modes of said at least one the side core, wherein said optical fiber is characterized as comprising a large mode area (LMA) fiber, and wherein said LMA fiber comprises normal dispersion around 1530-1650 nm for one of the supermodes;
- and
- a secondary cladding surrounding said cladding.
2 more elements
An optical fiber, comprising:
- a cladding;
- a main core;
- at least one side core having an index of refraction that is higher and a diameter that is smaller than that of said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core have an effective refractive index that varies faster with wavelength than the effective refractive index of modes of said main core, wherein said main core and said at least one side core are embedded within said cladding, wherein said at least one side core is located a distance from said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core and the modes of said main core hybridize into two supermodes having different dispersion than said modes of said main core and said modes of said at least one the side core, wherein said fiber comprises normal dispersion over at least a 100 nm wavelength range for one of the supermodes;
- and
- a secondary cladding surrounding said cladding.
2 more elements
An optical fiber, comprising:
- a cladding;
- a main core;
- at least one side core having an index of refraction that is higher and a diameter that is smaller than that of said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core have an effective refractive index that varies faster with wavelength than the effective refractive index of modes of said main core, wherein said main core and said at least one side core are embedded within said cladding, wherein said at least one side core is located a distance from said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core and the modes of said main core hybridize into two supermodes having different dispersion than said modes of said main core and said modes of said at least one the side core, wherein said main core is made from Ge-doped fused silica, wherein said at least one side core is made from standard preforms for multimode GRIN fiber;
- and
- a secondary cladding surrounding said cladding.
2 more elements
An optical fiber, comprising:
- a cladding;
- a main core;
- at least one side core having an index of refraction that is higher and a diameter that is smaller than that of said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core have an effective refractive index that varies faster with wavelength than the effective refractive index of modes of said main core, wherein said main core and said at least one side core are embedded within said cladding, wherein said at least one side core is located a distance from said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core and the modes of said main core hybridize into two supermodes having different dispersion than said modes of said main core and said modes of said at least one the side core, wherein the resulting dispersion of said supermodes is optimized;
- and
- a secondary cladding surrounding said cladding.
2 more elements
An optical fiber, comprising:
- a cladding;
- a main core;
- at least one side core having an index of refraction that is higher and a diameter that is smaller than that of said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core have an effective refractive index that varies faster with wavelength than the effective refractive index of modes of said main core, wherein said main core and said at least one side core are embedded within said cladding, wherein said at least one side core is located a distance from said main core such that the modes of said at least one side core and the modes of said main core hybridize into two supermodes having different dispersion than said modes of said main core and said modes of said at least one the side core;
- a secondary cladding surrounding said cladding;
- and
- a ring that surrounds the main core and the at least one side core, the ring having an index of refraction greater than an index of refraction of the cladding, the ring configured to suppress propagation of higher order modes in the main core.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.