• Richardson, David J.
• Codemard, C.
• Alegria, C.
• Payne, D. N.
• Soh, D. B. S.
• Philippov, V.
• Nilsson, Johan
• Jeong, Y.
• Sahu, Jayanta Kumar
• Clarkson, W. A.
• Baek, S.

Abstract

Fiber lasers were demonstrated as early as in the 1960s, but they were hampered by the need for laser pumping for efficient operation. The mid 1980s saw the realization of rare-earth doped single-mode high silica fibers with low loss. In a symbiotic pairing with advances in semiconductor pump lasers, a rapid development of active fiber devices ensued. This led to the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), which has revolutionized optical telecommunications.

Topics

• semiconductor
• Erbium