Materials for Advanced Optical and Optoelectronic Fibers

With hundreds of millions of kilometers fabricated world-wide each year, optical fibers are ubiquitous enablers of many modern technologies. However, the ever-present demand for enhanced performance has brought about a renaissance in fiber optics materials, their methods of fabrication, and the range of properties one can achieve. This lecture will provide a brief history of optical fibers, conventional fiber materials and manufacturing methods, as well as their limitations. Following this, newer considerations and applications, such as those relating to datacomms, high energy (fiber) lasers, and infrared fiber sources will be discussed, with a focus on enabling fiber materials and processing.