SBIR Phase I: Endohedral Metallofullerenes for Fiber Optic Applications

9861142 这个第一阶段的小企业创新研究项目的目的是获得铒内嵌金属富勒烯使用最近开发的纯化工艺，并将这些材料纳入光纤和相关设备的改进性能适合于短期的商业应用。用在近红外区域发射的三价镧系元素离子激活的玻璃是当前感兴趣的，因为它们作为用于光纤通信的高功率激光器和光学放大器以及用于光纤传感应用的材料的潜力。目前，掺铒光纤放大器（EDFA）用于光数据的再生，从而实现极长距离的传输。此外，正在研究掺铒光纤用于陀螺仪应用的环形激光器装置，并且诸如铒的稀土材料的荧光可用于通过荧光衰减时间与温度之间的关系来测量温度。通过将铒离子包封在金属富勒烯Er2@C82中，相对于二氧化硅玻璃，铒被提供了异常均匀的环境。这可以具有增加激发态寿命和相应的激光器效率的效果，并且在上转换激光器中可以是重要的。 使用内嵌金属富勒烯的改进的掺铒材料将在掺铒光纤放大器、光纤激光器、光纤环形激光陀螺仪和其它通信和传感器产品（包括用于飞行器应用的基于荧光的温度传感器）中具有直接的商业应用。提纯后的铒内嵌金属富勒烯材料可以作为原材料出售，掺铒EMF的光纤预制棒可以出售给光纤制造商。

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.