High index planar light circuits and high power kHz fiber lasers

CEO, NKT Research & Innovation, Denmark

11.00am, Friday 4 July 2003, AR103 Seminar Room, Graduate Research Centre

Developments in micro- and nanofabrication have allowed for novel optical functionalities to be realized. Two interconnected systems will be presented, planar high index contrast waveguide structures and microstructured fibers. Common to both systems are the presence of elaborate index structures as enabler for record breaking optical performances. High index contrast waveguides in SiON have been realized with low optical losses, negligible polarization dispersion and connected to the outside world by efficient low loss couplers. Components in Δn=2.5% will be shown and discussed. Microstructured optical fibers represent a different high index contrast geometry. Recent results on rare earth doped double clad microstructured fibre lasers will be presented, showing effective “photon” conversion efficiencies in excess of 90% at CW output powers as high as 300 Watts around 1 µm. Combined with the availability of spectral purities <1 kHz incorporating weak index structures, new regimes of non-linear mixing schemes are allowed for use in spectroscopy as well as in numerous industrial applications. Initially the NKT Group of Denmark, enjoying collaboration with 7 universities in Denmark and abroad will be briefly presented.

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