Tellurite photonic crystal fiber made by a stack-and-draw technique

We report a method for producing, from the raw materials, high optical and geometrical quality glass tubes and photonic crystal fiber (PCF) preforms, without using extrusion or drilling at any stage. A thermal glass study was carried out in order to choose the appropriate glass composition to avoid crystallization problems during the tube, preform and fiber fabrication. A two period PCF was fabricated in addition to a co-doped Erbium and Thulium photonic crystal fiber. In the latter, a 187 nm wide amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectrum was obtained when pumping a 15 cm long fiber at a wavelength of 790 nm.