s Silica Optical Fibers Doped with Nanoparticles for Fiber Lasers and Broadband Sources

We present a review on recent progress in the research and development of nanoparticlecontaining optical fibers for high-power fiber lasers, amplifiers, and ASE sources. Attention has been focused on rare-earth-doped silica fibers with nanoparticles in the core. Progress in materials, technologies, characterization techniques, and achievements has been summarized. Materials of active fibers based on yttrium-aluminium silicates, mullite, protoenstatite, and phosphates doped with Er3, Yb 3, Eu3, and Tm3 have been reviewed. The material research in this field has been systematically investigated by research groups from ORC Southampton, CGCRI Kolkata, LPMC Nice together with CNR-IOM-OGG Grenoble, nLIGHT (formerly Liekki), and IPE Prague since 2007. The best slope efficiency achieved with Yb –doped nanoparticle-containing fiber was in the range of 70-80 %.