Modeling and simulation of mid-IR amplifying characteristics of Tm3+-doped chalcogenide Photonic Crystal Fibers

•The Tm3+-doped chalcogenide glass exhibited a strong emission peak around 3.8 μm.•An approximate model for the Tm3+-doped PCF amplifier was developed.•The amplifying characteristics of the designed PCF amplifier were worked out.•The designed PCF amplifier exhibits a large signal gain around 3.8 μm.

This paper deals with the designing of a Tm3+-doped chalcogenide Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) amplifier operating in the mid-IR range. The chalcogenide glass of 72GeS2–18Ga2S3–10CsI (in mol%) was fabricated with the high temperature melt-quenching method, which exhibited a strong emission peak around 3.8 μm under the excitation of a 800 nm laser. By employing the rate equations and propagation equations, the amplifying characteristics of the designed PCF amplifier were worked out. It is shown that the designed PCF amplifier exhibits a signal gain larger than 30 dB and a spectral width wider than 200 nm. The theoretical models and simulation results show that the PCF presented in this work can be used in developing high efficiency mid-IR light sources.