HIGH-POWER POLYMER OPTICAL-FIBER AMPLIFIER

Organic dye-doped polymer optical fiber amplifiers (POFA) are fabricat ed and their amplification characteristics are investigated. Rhodamine 6G, Rhodamine B, and Perylene Red are used as organic dyes for optica l amplification. The amplification of optical signals at 571 nn, 591 n m, and 621 nm wavelengths is confirmed through pumping by the second h armonic of a pulse-operated Nd:YAG laser. It is shown that very high o utput powers can be achieved by increasing the caliber of Rhodamine B doped POFA. One-kW optical signal output (30 dB gain) is obtainable at dye doping of 1 ppm, 500-mu m core radius, and POFA length of 250 mm. The conversion efficiency of such a high output amplifier is 27 perce nt. The POFAs are advantageous over liquid-dye lasers because they are easily handled. Multistage POFAs in the form of joint POFAs are propo sed as new light source systems and their oscillation characteristics are discussed.