Fluorescence Emission Centres and the Corresponding Infrared Fluorescence Saturation in a Bismuth-Doped Silica Fibre

We investigate the fluorescence characteristics of bismuth doped silica fibres with and without Al co-dopant which are fabricated by means of modified chemical vapour deposition (MCVD) technique, and find that the fluorescences in the red region (centred around 750nm) and in the infrared region (centred around 1100nm) may originate from different emission sites in the fibre. Strong upconversion phenomena are observed in both Al-codoped and non Al codoped bismuth fibres when the fibres are excited by an acoustic-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ laser. Both the aspects indicate that the upper energy level absorption reported in the work of the bismuth doped silica fibre lasers may result from the fluorescence emission sites that are not responsible for the infrared emission. It is thus expected that optimizing the compositions and the fabrication conditions of the fibre and then transferring more fluorescence emission centres are helpful for the infrared emission.