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Fabrication, spectroscopic properties, and laser performance of a Yb:SiO(2) multicomponent glass have been investigated in this paper. The glass system composed of SiO(2), Al(2)O(3), and La(2)O(3) excels in terms of a high thermal stress resistance compared to other laser glasses. The laser experiments were conducted with a 3.4 mm thick and 0.9 mol. % Y(2)O(3) doped sample. A maximum slope efficiency of 51%, a maximum optical to optical efficiency of 42%, and a tuning range from 1010-1090 nm was realized. Due to the promising laser properties and a straightforward fabrication technique it may well qualify as an alternative gain medium in high-energy, ultrashort pulse laser systems.

We studied both numerically and experimentally a birefringence in a microstructure fiber with elliptical inclusion highly doped with GeO(2). We demonstrate that such inclusion increases the phase modal birefringence and modifies its dispersion in the short wavelength range, thus causing that group birefringence crosses zero value at a certain wavelength. Moreover, we numerically analyzed different factors contributing to the overall fiber birefringence, including geometrical birefringence induced by holes distribution and ellipticity of the inclusion as well as stress birefringence associated with thermal shrinkage of the doped glass.

We report on what we believe to be the first demonstration of an erbium-ytterbium-doped multifilament-core (MFC) fiber for single-mode amplification of narrow linewidth high peak power pulses. A master-oscillator-power-fiber-amplifier laser source has been demonstrated using a 37-filament MFC fiber in the last amplification stage. Pulses with 750 microJ (940 W peak power) and laser linewidth<1 MHz have beam generated with M2 approximately 1.3. This value is close to the theoretical value M2 approximately 1.5.

We report 2 x 2 and 4 x 4 multimode air-clad holey fiber couplers fabricated by a novel fusion and tapering technique. The devices showed excellent port-to-port coupling uniformity over a wide spectral range of 800-1650 nm. The 4 x 4 coupler showed a low insertion loss of 9.9 dB and excess loss of 3.9 dB at 1310 nm. Because of its unique air cladding and the high numerical aperture of the holey fiber structure, the device showed strong potential in high-power applications.