ABSTRACT
Rare earth doped silica glass fibers have received a great deal of attention for many practical applications, including fiber laser devices and amplifiers. Heavy-metal fluoride (HMF) and chalcogenide glass fibers doped with rare earth ions have also been investigated because they possess lower phonon energies than silica and, consequently, reduced multiphonon quenching. This property has led to more efficient fluorescence in the infrared (IR) as well as emission wavelengths that are not possible in silica-doped fibers. The present chapter describes the properties of HMF and chalcogenide glasses and of fibers containing rare earth ions, with emphasis on laser and amplification properties in the IR. The laser properties of HMF glass fibers in the visible and ultraviolet (UV) spectra are described separately in Chapter 4.
