Abstract

In recent years, rare-earth doped fibre lasers have matured from a fledgling laboratory curiosity into a device capable of taking on other lasers at their own game, due in no small part to the invention of the photorefractive fibre grating. Single-handedly, this component has changed the way in which these lasers are perceived and used. It is no longer necessary to use bulk dielectric coated mirrors or fibre ring resonators to provide the optical feedback required for laser operation. Instead, by writing a grating into each end of a length of doped fibre, it is possible to make a robust device that can be readily spliced to other fibre components such as couplers and pigtailed diode lasers.

© 1995 Optical Society of America