Joshua Gild

Rare-earth-doped fibers with single-crystal cores have the potential for 10x higher TMI threshold than their glass counterparts and are a promising candidate for use as gain media in high-power laser systems. Their utility has been limited by parasitic optical losses and difficulty in fabrication. This paper explores methods to reduce the losses in these fibers in the core, in the cladding and at the core-cladding interface and an overview of the work done at NRL in this area.