Yb 3+ doped gain guided index anti-guided fiber based on the nanoporous silica glass rod

Abstract We report a heavily Yb 3+ /Al 3+ /B 3+ /F − co-doped high silica rod with a negative refractive index relative to pure silica. The high silica rod was fabricated from nanoporous silica rod using glass phase-separation technology. To lower the refractive index, B 3+ and F − were simultaneously introduced into the silica rod and the optical properties of the silica rod were investigated. The fiber preform was prepared with the rod-in-tube method by which the Yb 3+ doped high silica rod was only used as an active core. The fiber has a core diameter of 80 μ m and a cladding diameter of 400 μ m. The measurements show that the Yb 3+ in the high silica fiber core is 15856 ppm by weight, while the refractive index is 0.0024 lower than that of the inner cladding. The amplification performance of the fiber was investigated. The results indicate that nanoporous silica glass based on the glass phase-separation technology has great potential for gain-guided index anti-guided high silica fiber.