Development of visible
up-conversion fiber laser based
on modified Silica glass host
Project Update for
Brain-Gain Malaysia Program
Panel Site Visit
By Hairul A. Abdul Rashid, Ph.D
MMU
22nd December, 2010
.
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Contents
•
•
•
•
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Introduction
Physical Progress
Financial Progress
Corrective Actions
Requests
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Introduction
• Design, Fabricate and Characterize:
– Visible wavelength
– Fiber laser
– Modified Silica Host
• Under guidance of visiting scientist:
– Dr. Mukul Chandra Paul, CGCRI, India
• Collaboration:
– TM R&D
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Methodology
• Development
– Preform fabrication
– Fiber drawing
– Fiber laser setup
• Characterization
– Fiber dimensions
– Emission/ Lasing properties
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Fiber Design
• Core composition:
SiO2+Al2O3+Yb2O3+Pr2O3+ZrO2/Y2O3+F
• Core diameter: 25μm
• Inner cladding diameter: 200μm
• Coating dia: 400±25μm
• Core NA: 0.12
• Cladding NA: 0.45 - 0.49
• Pr and Yb doping level: 1.0 - 1.5 wt%
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Updates
• Preform Fabrication
– MCVD is ready to run deposition
– Not fully sintered
– Recipe need to modify
– Solution doping - doping of Pr3+ and Yb3+ into
alumino-silicate glass modified with incorporation
of ZrO2 and PbF2 or F of optical fibre preform.
– Solution doping station:
• Design complete
• motor and pump ready
• Preparing tubing
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Set Up For Solution Doping
Peristaltic
Pump Motor
Fabricated
porous soot
Drain Valve
Dopant Solution
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Updates
• Fiber drawing
– Milling of the preform into D-shaped inner cladding
structure
– Polishing
– Resin coating for outer cladding
– Fiber drawing
– Drawing tower in UM is not ready (expected
February 2011)
– Fiber drawing will be done in CGCRI
– Quotation ready
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Updates
• Fiber Laser setup
– Lasing wavelength range:- Visible range (400800nm)
– Output Power range:- 0.01-0.1W
– Pump configuration with other parameters:Wavelength (800nm or 980 nm), Pump Power
(1000mW)
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Characterization Progress
Schematic diagram of visible wavelength Pr3+ Doped fiber laser setup
There will be three types of pump wavelength to be proposed for this
project :
1. 1064nm
2. 800nm
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3. 980nm
Multimode laser diode
Uncooled High
Power Laser Diode
Max Power (10W)
High Power Laser
Diode Driver
(Controller)
High Power Laser
Detector
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Laser Diode Characteristics
5000
80
4500
y = 0.7183x - 228.28
70
Output Power (mW)
4000
Power (mW)
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
60
50
40
30
20
10
500
0
0
300
1300
2300 3300 4300 5300
Drive Current (mA)
6300
Bookham 980nm Laser Diode
Charactereristics at typical operating
current (extrapolated)
7300
0
100
200
300
400
500
Drive Current (mA)
Bookham 980nm Laser Diode
Charactereristics near threshold current
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Updates
• Characterization
– Material study of Pr doped modified silica based
glass structure using EPMA, SEM-EDX, XRD and
TEM analyses
– To be done in CGCRI
– Quotation ready
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Updates
• Characterization
• Geometrical and optical property of the
fabricated fibres will be done through
measurement of core diameter, inner cladding
diameter, coating thickness and RI profile
using Fibre Analyser along with optical loss by
the spectral attenuation set-up.
• Setup is ready
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Physical Progress
• Original Gantt Chart
• Milestone #1
– Complete fabrication
– June 2010
– Not achieved (yet)
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Reasons
• Milestone #1 not achieved
• Dr. Mukul was involved in some industrial
accident.
• Currently recovering and undergoing
physiotherapy
• Late disbursement, October 2010
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Corrective Actions
• Necessary equipment and raw materials for
fabrication is ready
• Dr. Mukul’s trip to Malaysia in January 2011
• Hairul to visit Dr. Mukul (private)
• In the mean time, our team is running several runs in
the MCVD through his guidance over email.
• Start earlier on other project activities:
characterization
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Physical Progress
• Revised Gantt Chart
2010
#
Task Name
1
Setting up solution doping station
2
Fabrication of preform using MCVD
method
3
Doping using solution doping
4
Fiber Drawing
5
Fiber optical and physical characterization
6
Visible fiber laser construction and
characterizations
7
Analysis of characterization results
Oct
Nov
• Revised Milestone
– Milestone #1: March 2011
– Milestone #2: May 2011
– Milestone #3: August 2011
2011
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mac
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
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Request
• Extension: 31st August, 2011
• Fiber drawing and characterization will be
done in CGCRI
• Team to visit CGCRI in March 2011
• Use existing budget since Dr. Mukul can
spend only 2 months maximum
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Financial Progress
•
•
•
•
Approved Project Allocation : RM_312,100_
Year 1 ( 2010 ) : RM_246,600__
Total Allocation Received To date : RM_246,600_
Total Expenditure To date: RM_ 140,852.45 __or
_57.12__%
• Balance of Allocation To date : RM_ 105,747.55
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APPENDIX
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www.physics.unlv.edu/facilities.html
Background
• Visible laser light sources
– Spectroscopy
– Printing technology
– Medical applications
www.physics.unlv.edu/facilities.html
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Background
• Currently
– air cooled ion lasers
– frequency doubled solid-state lasers
• Problem
– high power consumption
– complicated nonlinear parametrical processes
• Up-conversion fiber lasers operating directly in
the visible spectral range offer a simple
alternative
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Advantages
• phases of the incident light = phase upconversion light, not required
• Lower cost, mature semiconductor laser as
pump
• Glass hosts as wave guides
– increases the optical gain length
– decreases the pumped power by the optical
restriction effect
– beam quality
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Problem Definition
• Up-conversion lasers based on glass fibers
– high pump intensities over long lengths
– laser threshold
• silica glass unsuitable due to high phonon
energies
– cause strong multi-phonon transitions
– lead to too short metastable level lifetimes.
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Problem Definition
• Alternatively, heavy-metal fluoride glasses
(e.g. ZBLAN)
– tends to be fragile and expensive
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Solution
• fabricate compact, mass-producible, highpower up-conversion visible wavelength fiber
lasers
• employs cheap, readily available IR
semiconductor lasers
• research required to identify suitable materials
for host
•
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Solution
• Use Praseodymium (Pr) with Ytterbium (Yb)
as a co-dopant
– Emission occurs at multiple visible wavelengths
including blue/green, green and red
– Previous proof of high efficiency upconversion
lasing in ZBLAN optical fibres
– Use of a single wavelength pumping source when
co-doped with Ytterbium (Yb).
– The apparent lack of a photodarkening
mechanism.
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Modified Host
• Fluoride and Tellurite hosts offer better
quantum efficiencies – however properties are
problematic, non-practical device.
• Doping silica materials with Pr3+ or Yb3++Pr3+
– low fluorescence
– high phonon quenching
• Need for modified silica host
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Objectives
• Development of Pr3+ and Yb3++Pr3+ co-doped
modified silica based glass host containing
around 80-85mol% of SiO2 for use as cladding
pump visible up-conversion fibre laser in blue,
green and red regions.
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Objectives
• Optimization of the core composition of Pr3+
and Yb3+ doped silica glass based optical
fibres to improve their lasing property from
view point of material study and fibre design.
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Objectives
• Standardization of different process
parameters during fabrication of preform,
milling followed by polishing in the D shaped
inner cladding structure and fibre drawing
stage to get desired waveguide parameters of
the fibres .
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Objectives
• Spectroscopy study of RE dope nanocrystallite fibre.
• Evolution of the lasing property of the
fabricated Pr3+ and Pr+Yb codoped cladding
pump fibres.
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Visiting Scientist
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•
•
•
•
DR. MUKUL CHANDRA PAUL
Optical Communication Fiber Laboratory
Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute
Expertise - Fiber Optics, Material Science
CV attached
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• CGCRI support/ approval
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Methodology
• Development
– Fabrication
– Fiber Laser setup
• Characterization
– Fiber dimensions
– Lasing properties
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Proposed fiber A
• Core composition:
SiO2+Al2O3+Yb2O3+Pr2O3+ZrO2/Y2O3+F
• Core Dia:- 20-25 micron
• Inner cladding dia:- 200μm
• Coating dia: 400±25μm
• Core NA:- 0.12 ±0.01
• Cladding NA:- 0.45-0.49
• Pr and Yb doping level:- 1.0- 1.5 wt%
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Proposed fiber B
• Core composition:
• SiO2+Al2O3+Yb2O3+Pr2O3+ZrO2+PbF2
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Project Activities
• Fabrication
– Doping of Pr3+ and Yb3+ into alumino-silicate glass
modified with incorporation of ZrO2 and PbF2 or F
of optical fibre preform.
– Milling of the preform into D-shaped inner cladding
structure
– Polishing
– Drawing of fibre
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Project Activities
• Fiber Laser setup
– Lasing wavelength range:- Visible range (400800nm)
– Output Power range:- 0.01-0.1W
– Pump configuration with other parameters:Wavelength (800nm or 980 nm), Pump Power
(1000mW)
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Project Activities
• Characterization
– Material study of Pr doped modified silica based
glass structure using EPMA, SEM-EDX, XRD and
TEM analyses
– Geometrical and optical property of the fabricated
fibres will be done through measurement of core
diameter, inner cladding diameter , coating
thickness and RI profile using Fibre Analyser
along with optical loss by the spectral attenuation
set-up.
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Characterization
• Study of lasing property of Pr3+ and
Pr3++Yb3+ doped fibers
• Pumped by 980 nm laser
Pr+Yb codoped D shaped
low RI coated fiber
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Milestones
No
Milestones
Completion Date
Deliverables
1.
Complete fabrication
June 2010
new modified host glass
fiber
2.
Complete characterization
September 2010
Full characterization
results of the visible fiber
laser based on the new
modified host glass fiber
3.
Complete results analysis
December 2010
Full analysis on
characterization results of
the visible fiber laser
based on the new
modified host glass fiber
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Gantt Chart
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Project Cost
Category
a) Sustenance (DV, IFPD, B2L, R&D)
b) Return Air Fare (DV, IFPD, R&D only)
c) Medical Insurance (DV, IFPD, B2L, R&D)
d) Top-up project cost (consumables, 1
Research Assistant, equipment rental cost)
RM
RM 7,000/ man-month
RM 7,000 x 6 months
= RM 42,000
RM 1,600 X 3 times
= RM 4,800
RM 500 X 6 months
= RM 3,000
RM257,300
(R&D only)
(Please itemized) see below
e) Accommodation
RM5,000
TOTAL
RM312,100
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Top-up Project Cost
• RO Cost = RM 24,000
• Cost related to fabrication RM204,300
• Cost related to characterization RM29,000
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Benefits
No.
Impact
1.
Enhanced knowledge in fabrication of advanced
materials will allow researchers and scientist in to
move up the value chain with access to more
materials that potentially have numerous applications.
2.
With the enhanced knowledge in fabrication, new
modified host glass fiber can be designed, fabricated
and characterized leading to potential
commercialization and quality publication.
3.
Success in identifying a suitable host material will
allow high-power visible wavelength lasers to be
mass-produced. This in turn would allow the creation
of a new high-technology laser company which would
further increase the Malyasia and profile in this very
strategic area.
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Current Facilities
• Photonics Lab, TM R&D
• Head of Lab, Dr. Abdul Aziz Mat Hassan
• Fabrication
– MCVD
– Quartz Etcher
• Preform Profiler
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Lathe
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Bubbler
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Gas Delivery System
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DI Water Facilities
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Gas Farm
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Scrubber
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Preform Profiler
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Current Facilities
• Characterization
– Visible Spectrometer
– Power Meter (High Power)
– RF Spectrum Analyzer (Linewidth Measurement)
– Beam Profiler
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OSA, TLS, Current Controller
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Power Meter, Attenuator, PD
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Digital Sampling Scope
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LabVIEW Control
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Visible Spectrometer
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Visit to CGCRI, Kolkata
• Visit on December 2009
• Discussion with Dr. Mukul Paul, Dr. Badhra
• Focus on fabrication and characterization of
silica fiber
• Facilities: fabrication (MCVD, drawing tower,
solution dopping, UV FBG/ LPG),
characterization (preform analyzer, fiber
analyzer, optical amplifier characterization)
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Acknowledgement
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THANK YOU!
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