SBIR Phase I: Endohedral Metallofullerenes for Fiber Optic Applications

9861142这项第一阶段小型企业创新研究项目旨在利用最新开发的提纯工艺获得铒内面体型金属富勒烯，并将这些材料引入光纤和相关器件中，以提高性能，适合近期的商业应用。在近红外区发射的三价稀土离子激活的玻璃由于其作为高功率激光器和光纤通信的光学放大器以及光纤传感应用的潜力而受到人们的关注。目前，掺铒光纤放大器(EDFA)被用于光数据的再生，从而实现了极长距离的传输。此外，用于陀螺应用的环形激光器件的掺铒光纤正在研究中，而稀土材料(如Er)的荧光可以通过荧光衰减时间与温度之间的关系来测量温度。通过将Er2@C82包裹在金属富勒烯Er2@C82中，Er2提供了一个相对于二氧化硅玻璃异常均匀的环境。这可以具有增加激发态寿命和相应的激光效率的效果，并且在上转换激光器中可能是重要的。使用面内金属富勒烯的改进的掺铒材料将立即在掺铒光纤放大器、光纤激光器、光纤环形激光陀螺仪和其他通信和传感器产品中获得商业应用，包括用于飞机应用的荧光温度传感器。提纯的掺铒金属富勒烯材料可以作为原料出售，掺铒电动势的纤维预制件可以出售给纤维制造商。

9861142 This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research project aims to obtain erbium endohedral metallofullerenes using recently developed purification processes and incorporate these materials into optical fiber and related devices with improved performance suitable for near term commercial application. Glasses activated with trivalent lanthanide ions emitting in the near infrared region are of current interest because of their potentiality as materials for high power lasers and optical amplifiers for fiber communications, and for fiber optic sensing applications. Currently, erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) are used for regeneration of optical data, enabling transmission over extremely long distances. In addition, erbium doped fiber is being investigated for use in ring laser devices for gyroscopic applications, and fluorescence of rare-earth materials such as erbium may be used to measure temperature through the relation between the fluorescent decay time and temperature. By encapsulating erbium ions in the metallofullerene Er2 @ C82, the erbium is provided an exceptionally homogeneous environment relative to silica glass. This can have the effect of increasing the excited state lifetime and corresponding laser efficiency, and can be important in upconversion lasers. Improved erbium doped materials using endohedral metallofullerenes would have immediate commercial application in erbium doped fiber amplifiers, fiber lasers, fiber ring laser gyroscopes, and other communication and sensor products, including fluorescence based temperature sensors for aircraft applications. Purified erbium endohedral metallofullerene material can be sold as raw material, and fiber preforms doped with erbium EMF could be sold to fiber manufacturers.