Technology Summary

Inventors have developed novel compositions of, and methods to produce, transition metal doped II-VI semiconductor optical fibers. These fibers have many attractive characteristics, including high efficiency, and exceptional tunability of laser properties. By changing the transition metal or host material, the emission wavelength tuned over much of the mid-Infrared (IR). High pressure chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) allows for a uniform doping concentration along centimeter length scales, overcoming significant technological disadvantage to current doping schemes. Using HPCVD, the inventors created Chromium doped Zinc Selenide (Cr2+:ZnSe ) optical fiber. Inventors have demonstrated that Cr2+:ZnSe optical fibers guide high powers of infrared light, suggesting they hold promise for applications such as non-linear frequency conversion and high power fiber lasers.