Nonsilica oxide glasses have been developed and studied for many years as promising alternatives to the most used silica glass for the development of optical fiber lasers with unique features and properties. Depending on the glass former of choice, these glasses can offer very distinctive physical properties if compared to silica-based glasses. With regard to the development of photonic fiber devices, these key properties include low phonon energy, high rare-earth ion solubility, high optical nonlinearity and easy handling procedures. This chapter, part I of a detailed study concerning nonsilica oxide glass–based optical fiber laser sources, reviews the main properties of three different nonsilica oxide glass families, namely phosphate, germanate and tellurite. The manufacturing process of an optical fiber using these glass materials is also discussed in Section 3 of this chapter.
Part of the book: Advances in Glass Science and Technology
Nonsilica oxide glasses have been developed and studied for many years as promising alternatives to the most used silica glass for the development of optical fiber lasers with unique characteristics. Their main properties and compositions, alongside the optical fiber fabrication principle, have been previously reviewed in part I. This chapter will review the development of optical fiber lasers operating in the infrared wavelength region based on nonsilica glass fiber materials, either phosphate, germanate or tellurite.
Part of the book: Advances in Glass Science and Technology