Highly birefringent microstructured neodymium doped fiber

Abstract

In this paper we present a novel, highly birefringent, microstructured optical fiber structure doped with neodymium. To our best knowledge it is the first report of a rare earth doped fiber with so high birefringence. The modal properties of the structure were analyzed using the full vectorial finite difference method. The emission spectra were also measured. Laser action in the simplest configuration, based on Fresnel light reflection at both ends of the fiber, was demonstrated.