Lifetime extending and performance improvements of optical fibers via loading

Abstract

A method of making a microstructured optical fiber including loading the core and cladding materials of the fiber with hydrogen and deuterium at a loading temperature; annealing the fiber at a selected temperature Tanneal; pumping the fiber with radiation; and reducing the temperature of the fiber and storing the fiber at the reduced temperature before the step of pumping the fiber; and wherein the method allows the hydrogen and the deuterium to become bound to the core material and the cladding material.

1 . A method of making a microstructured optical fiber having a core comprising a core material comprising hydrogen and/or deuterium bound to the core material and a cladding comprising a cladding material, where at least a part of the core comprises silica or doped silica and the core having a Germanium content of less than 0.001 at %, where the microstructured optical fiber is a nonlinear fiber in that the microstructured fiber can guide light for at least a range of wavelengths λ min  to λ max  and for a mode field diameter (MFD) of the fundamental mode over at least a part of the range, the fraction (MFD)/λ is less than or equal to 5, the method comprising the steps of
 loading the core material and the cladding material with hydrogen and deuterium at loading temperature equal to or more than 120° C.; 
 annealing the fiber at temperature T anneal  of more than 80° C. for a period of more than 1 hour; 
 pumping the fiber for a period of more than 12 hours with radiation having an average power of 1 W or more and a peak power density within the fiber equal to or higher than 100 W/μm 2 ; 
 reducing the temperature of the fiber and storing the fiber at the reduced temperature for a period of time before the step of pumping the fiber; and 
 wherein the method allows the hydrogen and the deuterium to become bound to the core material and the cladding material.