Preventing photodarkening in ytterbium-doped high power fiber lasers; correlation to the UV-transparency of the core glass

Photodarkening experiments are performed on ytterbium-doped silicate glass samples. A strong charge-transfer (CT) absorption band near 230nm in aluminosilicate glass is found to be correlated to the mechanism of induced color center formation. Excitation into the CT-absorption band generates similar color centers as observed in ytterbium-doped fiber lasers under 915nm high power diode pumping. The position of the CT-absorption band is compositional dependent and is shifted to shorter wavelengths in ytterbium doped phosphosilicate glass. Very low levels of photodarkening is observed for the ytterbium doped phosphosilicate glass composition under 915nm high power diode pumping. Possible excitation routes to reach the CT-absorption band under 915nm pumping are discussed. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.