SBIR Phase I: Rare Earth Doped Polymer Optical Fiber Amplifiers

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The goal of Phase I Small Business Innovation Research project is to demonstrate optical amplification in a single-mode polymer optical fiber. The technical objectives required to meet this goal include the following: 1) incorporate rare-earth chelates into polymers that we use to make fiber; 2) demonstrate amplification in the material; 3) make a polymer fiber with a rare-earth core; and 4) demonstrate amplification in the fiber. Because the principle investigator has the expertise to make single mode polymer optical fiber waveguides with a mode profile that matches the mode in standard silica glass fiber, the amplifier fiber is compatible with existing fiber-optic components. Besides applications for Phased Array Radar, Sentel's amplified single mode polymer fiber (APOF) will have impact on the long-haul fiber amplifier business, but it will have the largest impact in WAN and MAN applications, particularly for fiber-to-the-neighborhood (FTTN) and fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC). As the length-bandwidth products decrease (for smaller networks, e.g., WANs or MANs with fewer channels per fiber but perhaps more fibers), the revenue carried by lit fiber decreases and component costs become more important to the system designer. Thus, it should be clear that this technology could have significant impact on the amplifier market for WANs and MANs, and will also provide cost-effective amplifier solutions for (single-mode) LANs for the first time. This technology is also expected to provide cost-effective solutions for hybrid fiber-coax CATV systems for the same reasons.