Fabrication and characterization of new Er3+ doped niobium borophosphate glass fiber

Optical fibers are drawn from niobium borophosphate preforms and characterized by Raman and micro-luminescence spectroscopy. Un-doped and erbium doped materials have been investigated. Raman spectroscopy has been used to characterize the structure of the preform and of the fiber. The spectra show that the fiber exhibits the same structure as the preform while no crystallization could be detected. This result has been confirmed by micro-luminescence measurement of the emission spectra of Er3+ ions in the visible, after excitation at 488 nm.