DETERMINING ERBIUM DISTRIBUTION IN OPTICAL FIBERS USING PHASE-SENSITIVE CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY

Confocal optical microscopy augmented by the phase-sensitive detection technique has been used to determine the erbium ion distribution in t he core of single-mode optical fibers. The fluorescence at 565 nm gene rated by erbium ions under 488 nm excitation has been used to map the distribution of these ions in several doped fibers and the total ion c oncentration was estimated. The minimum concentration of erbium ions t hat can be measured using this technique is estimated to be of the ord er of a part per million.