Fabrication of Optical Fiber and Fiber Amplifiers: From Design to Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The earliest development stage of optical fibers benefited from peoples’ pursuit of high-capacity communication. Apart from light transmission, optical fibers can also be utilized in sensing, filtering, amplification, and lasering. Different applications have incubated innovation in materials, structures, and fabrication methods of optical fibers. In terms of materials, substrates (such as silica and soft silica), polymers, and dopants (such as erbium, ytterbium, fluorine, and bismuth) are utilized to manufacture optical fibers with different functions. As for the structures, in addition to the traditional double-layered core-cladding fiber structure, multi-layered, multi-core, and micro-structured optical fibers are also developed. The fabrication of optical fibers involves methods such as vapor deposition methods, microtapering, and even 3D printing. Moreover, a combination of different materials, structures, and fabrication methods has led to the innovation and improvement of various functional fiber optic devices, such as FBGs and fiber interferometers. More materials, structures, and fabrication methods can be developed and improved to meet the new requirements of different applications.

Fiber amplifiers comprise an important branch of fiber optic devices. There are two main categories of fiber amplifiers: rare-earth-doped fiber amplifiers (such as erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs)) and nonlinear fiber amplifiers (such as fiber Raman amplifiers and fiber Brillouin amplifiers). EDFAs are widely used in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. Larger capacity communication systems pose new demands for fiber amplifiers. For example, mode division multiplexing (MDM) and space division multiplexing (SDM) systems require few high-performance mode EDFAs and multi-core EDFAs. EDFAs mainly operate in the C-band and L-band. In order to expand the wavelength band and further improve the communication capacity, other rare-earth-doped fiber amplifiers (such as bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers), fiber Raman amplifiers, and fiber Brillouin amplifiers also need to be studied and improved.

This Special Issue on “Fabrication of Optical Fiber and Fiber Amplifier: From Design to Applications” will welcome basic, methodological, and cutting-edge research contributions, as regular and review papers that focus on:

• The development and improvement of materials, and design and fabrication methods for optical fibers;
• Specialty optical fibers, such as micro-structured optical fibers and polymer fibers;
• Special erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), such as few-mode EDFAs and multicore EDFAs;
• Other rare-earth-doped fiber amplifiers, such as bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers;
• Nonlinear fiber amplifiers, including fiber Raman amplifiers and fiber Brillouin amplifiers;
• Applications based on optical fibers and fiber amplifiers, such as optical fiber sensors and optical fiber lasers.

Dr. Shiying Xiao
Dr. Beilei Wu
Dr. Yudong Lian
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• optical fibers
• specialty optical fibers
• optical fiber amplifiers
• EDFAs
• rare-earth-doped fiber amplifiers
• fiber Raman amplifiers
• fiber Brillouin amplifiers
• optical fiber sensors
• optical fiber lasers