The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 18, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 11, 2002
Shibin Jiang, Tucson, AZ (US);
Sergio Brito Mendes, Tucson, AZ (US);
Gualtiero Nunzi Conti, Tucson, AZ (US);
Dan T. Nguyen, Tucson, AZ (US);
Ewan Malcolm Wright, Tucson, AZ (US);
Arturo Chavez-Pirson, Tucson, AZ (US);
Yushi Kaneda, Tucson, AZ (US);
NP Photonics, Inc., Tucson, AZ (US);
Abstract
A compact, low-cost mid-gain Erbium Micro-Fiber Amplifier (EMFA) is provided by multi-mode pumping a micro fiber formed from a specialty multi-component glass and highly co-doped with Er:Yb. The specialty glass exhibits a much higher core absorption coefficient than standard glasses. As a result, the lower order modes are rapidly absorbed in the fiber core. The abrupt change in the mode profile perturbs the higher order modes and mode couples them into the lower order modes within a very short length of fiber, less than 20 cm. This “absorptive mode coupling” effect can double the absorption efficiency of a circular symmetric micro fiber and extend the length over which such a highly doped fiber can be efficiently inverted. The combination of multi-mode pumping with short fiber lengths reduces the form factor and cost of EMFAs.