Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Winter 11-15-2022

Abstract

In this dissertation, I investigate the possibility of lasing and nonlinear phenomena in completely solid-state transverse Anderson localizing optical fibers (TALOFs). I examine three areas within this range of topics. The research in nonlinear phenomena focuses on four-wave mixing (FWM). FWM is of high interest in TALOFs due to the fact that guided localized modes of the fiber each have different propagation constants, and thus unique possible FWM pairs can be generated from the same input pump beam. I demonstrate the generation of FWM in the TALOF by pumping it with 532 nm light into a localized mode and observing Stokes and anti-Stokes peaks at a 330 cm^-1 spectral shift with respect to the pump. I also study the laser gain properties of the ytterbium-doped TALOF (Yb:TALOF). I present a modified cutback method that allowed me to determine the coupling efficiency, resonant absorption, and saturation power of a 975 nm pump beam. With this information I initially determined that the fiber was incapable of lasing if pumped with 975 nm light, but should be capable of lasing when pumped with 915 nm light. In the last chapter, I perform two cutback measurements at 1065 nm and 915 nm. We find that the background absorption at 1065 nm is an order of magnitude lower than at 633 nm, indicating that Rayleigh scattering may have a significant contribution to the background attenuation in the fiber. Therefore, we go through and reassess our calculations of the previous chapter using a corrected value of background absorption scaled by wavelength to the fourth power. We find that this correction provides a much more accurate prediction when calculating parameters of the fiber. This chapter concludes with the amplification of 1030 nm and 1065 nm light when pumped with a 915 nm light source. During amplification, localization of of the signal beam is observed.

Degree Name

Optical Science and Engineering

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Optical Science and Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Arash Mafi

Second Committee Member

Mansoor Sheik-Bahae

Third Committee Member

Tito Busani

Fourth Committee Member

John Ballato

Keywords

Optics, photonics, Anderson localization, disordered optical fiber, nonlinear optics, laser

Sponsors

National Science Foundation (1807857, 1808232)

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS