Copyright © 2011 American Scientific Publishers Journal of

All rights reserved Nanoelectronics and Optoelectronics

Printed in the United States of America Vol. 6, 1–6, 2011

Femtosecond Laser Pulse Propagation in Novel Fiber:

Tellurite Glass Codoped Er3+/Tm3+
Mounir Khelladi
Telecommunications Laboratory, Genie Electrics, Electrotechnics, Department Faculty of Engineering Sciences,
Abou-Bekr Belkaïd University – Tlemcen, P. O. Box 230, Chetouane, 13000 Tlemcen, Algeria

In this work we investigated propagation of ultrashort laser pulses in Tellurite glass codoped
Er3+ /Tm3+ . We derived a general propagation equation of pulses which includes the linear and non-
linear effects to all orders. We studied in the specific case of Kerr media and obtained an ultrashort
pulse propagation equation called a generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The impact of
the third order dispersion, the higher-order nonlinear terms self-steepening, and stimulated Raman
scattering are explicitly analyzed.
Keywords: Femtosecond Pulse Propagation, Kerr Medium, Group Velocity Dispersion, Third
Order Dispersion, Self Steepening, Raman Scattering.

1. INTRODUCTION outside the C-band. The Tellurite glass has compara-

tively lower phonon energy (780 cm−1  than silicate glass,
Theoretical and experimental research for the propagation

RESEARCH ARTICLE
and it exhibits better environmental resistance than fluo-
process of ultrashort laser pulses (in fs) in a medium have ride fibers, in addition, Tellurite glass provides a much
been the subject of intensive research within the last few broader fluorescence spectra and larger rare earth oxide
years.1 2 6 7 Because of special properties of these pulses, solubility than silicate and fluoride glasses.8–9 Recently,
during their propagation in the medium several new effects Tm3+ -doped Tellurite fiber for S-band amplification were
have been observed in comparison with the propagation reported under dual-wavelength pumping (795/1064 nm
process of short pulses (in ps), namely the effects of dis- and 1047/1550 nm) schemes.10 11
persion and nonlinear effects of higher orders. Under the
The Tellurite glass presents very good optical quality, is
influence of these effects, we have complicated changes
stable against atmospheric moisture, it exhibits low opti-
both in amplitude and spectrum of the pulse. It splits
cal attenuation from 400 nm to 5.0 m, The material
into constituents and its spectrum also evolves into sev-
also exhibits high solubility allowing the incorporation
eral bands which are known as optical shock and self-
of high lanthanide concentrations apart from being non
frequency shift phenomena.1–3 5
hygroscopic and to present high thermal stability against
These effects should be studied in detail for future con-
crystallization.12
crete applications of femtosecond pulses, especially in
In recent years, the upconversion of infrared light to vis-
the domain of optical communication. We apply the gen-
ible light by rare earth ion doped glasses has been investi-
eral formalism used for the pulse propagation problem in
gated extensively, due to the possibility of infrared pumped
Ref. [4] for the one-dimensional case.31
visible lasers and the potential applications in areas such as
This formalism is based on the approximate expansion
three-dimensional display, optical data storage, optoelec-
of the nonlinear wave equation, which treats the nonlinear
tronics, medical diagnostics, sensor, and undersea optical
processes involved in the problem as the perturbations.
communication.13–17

2. TELLURITE GLASS
2.2. Spectroscopy Properties
2.1. Definitions
Absorption spectra of Er3+ -doped and Er3+ /Tm3+ -codoped
Tellurite glass fibers exhibit significant advantages over Tellurite glasses and their correspondent energy levels are
the fluoride and silicate glass fibers for amplification presented in Figure 2.

J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 2011, Vol. 6, No. 2 1555-130X/2011/6/001/006 doi:10.1166/jno.2011.1149 1

 Femtosecond Laser Pulse Propagation in Novel Fiber: Tellurite Glass Codoped Er3+ /Tm3+ Khelladi

Wavelength
Fig. 1. The absorption spectrum of Tm3+ /Er3+ /Yb3+ -codoped TPCFB
glass.13–17 Fig. 3. Curves of the refractive index according to the wavelength in
the visible field.
2.3. Refractive Index
glasses. All curves show about 0.5 cm−1 minimum attenua-
The refraction index of these glasses is relatively high and
tion for wavelength above 800 nm, but, with the exception
depends on the wavelength () according to18
of the first curve, (a), they were vertically displaced arbi-
 trarily to display more clearly the Tm3+ ions absorption
3242
n ≈ 1 + 2 (1) bands.18
 − 1932

3. PROPAGATION EQUATION FOR

2.4. The Absorption Properties of Er3+ –Tm3+ ULTRASHORT PULSES
Co-Doped Tellurite Glasses
RESEARCH ARTICLE

3.1. General Form of the Pulse Propagation Equation

Figure 5 shows the UV-VIS-IR attenuation spectra of in the Nonlinear Dispersion Medium
Er3+ –Tm3+ co-doped Tellurite glasses for several Tm3+
concentrations, keeping 7500 ppm Tm2 O3 constant, For an understanding of the nonlinear phenomena in opti-
obtained with a Perkin–Elmer Lambda 9 spectrophotome- cal fibers, it is necessary to consider the theory of electro-
ter. In this figure curve (a) is for 0.496 cm thick without magnetic wave propagation in dispersive nonlinear media.
Tm2 O3 , curve (b) for 0.439 cm thick 2500 ppm Tm2 O3 , The Maxwell equations can be used to obtain the follow-
curve (c) for 0.383 cm thick 5000 ppm Tm2 O3 , curve ing nonlinear wave equation for the electric field.19
(d) for 0.530 cm thick 7500 ppm Tm2 O3 , curve (e) for The study of most nonlinear effects in optical fibers
0.520 cm thick 10,000 ppm Tm2 O3 and, finally, curve involves the use of short pulses with widths ranging from
(f) for 0.298 cm 15,000 ppm Tm2 O3 co-doped Tellurite ∼10 ns to 10 fs. When such optical pulses propagate inside

β2 = 0.0792 ps2/m
at 800 nm

β3 = –1.02.10–5 ps3//m
at 800 nm

Wavelength
Fig. 2. Energy levels for Er3+ and Tm3+ -doped Tellurite glass. On the
right, the spectrum of energy of Tm3+ (078 · 1020 ions/cm3 -doped Tel- Fig. 4. Variation of 2 and 3 with wavelength for Tellurite glass
lurite glass is presented.18 Codoped Er3+ /Tm3+ .

2 J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 6, 1–6, 2011

Khelladi Femtosecond Laser Pulse Propagation in Novel Fiber: Tellurite Glass Codoped Er3+ /Tm3+

dispersion through 1 and 2 , and of fiber nonlinearity

through . Briefly, the pulse envelope moves at the group
velocity vg ≡ 1/1 while the effects of group-velocity dis-
persion (GVD) are governed by 2 .19
Figure 6 shows the extent of dispersion-induced broad-
ening for Gaussian pulses by plotting U z T 2 at
z = 0, 200LD and 400LD , for Tellurite Glass Codoped
Er3+ /Tm3+ . (Comparison with silica fiber see after
Agrawal19 for z = 2 and 4LD  0 = 1 ps, LD ≈ 100 m).

3.2. SPM-Induced Spectral Broadening

An interesting manifestation of the intensity dependence
of the refractive index in nonlinear optical media occurs
through self-phase modulation (SPM), a phenomenon that
leads to spectral broadening of optical pulses.1−3 In terms
Fig. 5. Attenuation or extinction coefficient of Er3+ doped and Er3+ – of the normalized amplitude U z T  defined as in Eq. (4),
Tm3+ co-doped Tellurite glass.18 the pulse-propagation become in the limit 2 = 0, become
U ie− z
a fiber, both dispersive and nonlinear effects influence their =  U 2 U (7)
shape and spectrum. z LNL
√
1 2E 2
PL 2
PNL where Az  = P 0 exp− z/2U z , where
2
E− 2 2
=  0 + 0 (2) accounts for fiber losses. The nonlinear length is defined
C t t2 t2
as
where PL and PNL are the linear and nonlinear polarization, LNL = P0 −1 (8)
respectively.
The electric field E is treated as a superposition of The most notable feature of Figure 7 is that SPM-
monochromatic constituents with different frequencies and induced spectral broadening is accompanied by an oscil-
latory structure covering the entire frequency range. In
wave vectors centered at their central values w0 and k 0 .

RESEARCH ARTICLE
general, the spectrum consists of many peaks, and the out-
We confine our self only to consider the propagation of
ermost peaks are the most intense. The number of peaks
the electric field in an arbitrary direction, say Oz (usually,
depends on ∅max and increases linearly with it. The origin
chosen as the direction of k 0 ), so we can write
of the oscillatory structure can be understood by refer-
1 ring to Ref. [19], where the time dependence of the SPM-
 t = xEz
Er  t = x Az te−iw0 t+ik0 z + C · C (3)
2 induced frequency chirp is shown.
Figure 7 compares the pulse spectra for Gaussian
The nonlinear Schrodinger equation that governs prop- (m = 1 and super-Gaussian (m = 3 pulses obtained. In
agation of optical pulses inside single fiber is given by
A A i2 2 A
+ 1 + + A = i  A 2 A (4)
z t 2 t2 2
where the nonlinear parameter  is defined as
n 2 w0 3
= · n2 = 3
Rexxxx  (5)
cAeff 8n
The parameter Aeff is known as the effective core area
and is defined as
 +
 − F x y2 dxdy2
Aeff =  + (6)
−
F x y4 dxdy

Equation (4) describes propagation of picosecond opti-

cal pulses in single-mode fibers. It is often referred to
as the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation because it Fig. 6. Dispersion-induced broadening of a Gaussian pulse inside Tel-
can be reduced to that form under certain conditions. It lurite Glass Codoped Er3+ /Tm3+ with 2 = 792e − 5 ps2 /m, 0 = 100 fs,
includes the effects of fiber losses through , of chromatic LD ≈ 162 m.

J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 6, 1–6, 2011 3

 Femtosecond Laser Pulse Propagation in Novel Fiber: Tellurite Glass Codoped Er3+ /Tm3+ Khelladi

where 0 and P0 stand respectively for the time width and

the maximal power in the top of the envelope function.
The propagation Eq. (9) for the ultrashort pulses has
a more complicated form than the nonlinear Schrödinger
equation describing the propagation of the short pulses
because it contains the higher-order dispersive and
nonlinear terms. The parameters characterizing these
effects: 3  s R govern respectively the effects of third
order dispersion, self-steepening and the self-shift fre-
quency. From the formulas (10) we see that when 0
decreases, i.e., the pulse is shorter, the magnitude of these
parameters increases, the higher-order effects should be
considered.23–26

4.1. Effect of Third-Order Dispersion

Fig. 7. SPM-broadened spectra for an unchirped Gaussian pulse. Spec- The appropriate propagation equation for the amplitude
tra are labeled by the maximum nonlinear phase shift ∅max . (in the left Az T  is obtained from Eq. (9) after setting  = 0.
for Gaussian pulse m = 0, and right for super-Gaussian pulse m = 3), U z T  satisfies the following equation:
0 = 100 fs, LNL = 714 m.
U  2U  3U
i = 2 2
+i 3 (11)
both cases, input pulses are assumed to be unchirped z 2 T 6 T3
(C = 0. The fiber length and the peak power are chosen Figure 8 shows the pulse shapes at z = 200LD for an
such that ∅max = 50. (Comparison with silica fiber see initially unchirped Gaussian pulse (C = 0) for 3 = 0 (dot-
after Agrawal19 ∅max = 45, 0 = 1 ps). ted curve) and for a value of 2 = 792e − 5 ps2 /m and
3 = −102e − 8 ps3 /m (dashed curve). Whereas a Gaus-
sian pulse remains Gaussian when only the 2 term in
4. IMPACT OF DISPERSION AND Eq. (11) contributes to GVD, the TOD do not distorts the
HIGHER-ORDERNONLINEAR EFFECTS pulse because have negligible values. Comparison with sil-
RESEARCH ARTICLE

ON THE ULTRASHORT PULSES ica fiber see after Agrawal19 z = 5LD  0 = 1 ps).
Under the influence of TOD both the pulse shape and
For pulses shorter than 5 ps but wide enough to contain
spectrum change in a complicated way. When the prop-
many optical cycles (widths 10 fs), we can obtain:
agation distance is larger the oscillation of the envelope
A i 2 A  3 A function is stronger, creating a long trailing edge to the
+ A+ 2 2 − 3 3 later time, and the spectrum is broadened into two sides
z 2 2 t 6 t
  and splits to the several peaks.24 26
i  A 2
= i  A 2 A +  A 2 A − TR A (9)
w0 T T

The Eq. (9) is the lowest-order approximate form when

we consider the higher-order dispersion and nonlinearity
effects in the general propagation Eq. (9). It is one of the
most useful approximate forms describing the propagation
process of the ultrashort pulses, called the generalized non-
linear Schrödinger equation.19
Using the new parameters and variables
⎫
T t − z/vg ⎪
 = z/LD   = = ⎪
⎪
T0 T0 ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
L P T 2
T 3 ⎪
⎪
N =
2 D
≡ 0 0
 LD = 0 ⎪
⎪
LNL  2   3  ⎬
(10)
T02 1 ⎪
⎪
LD =  LNL = ⎪
⎪
 2  ⎪
⎪
P0 ⎪
⎪
⎪ Fig. 8. Pulse shapes at z = 200LD of an initially Gaussian pulse at z = 0
3 1 TR ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ (solid curve) in the presence of 2 second order dispersion. Dashed curve
3 =  s=  R = ⎭
6   2  T0 w 0 T0 T0 shows the effect higher order dispersion 2 and 3 = 0 0 = 100 fs.

4 J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 6, 1–6, 2011

Khelladi Femtosecond Laser Pulse Propagation in Novel Fiber: Tellurite Glass Codoped Er3+ /Tm3+

4.2. Self-Steepening part). The effect of self-steepening is to break the degener-

acy so that the two solitons propagate at different speeds.
The phenomenon of self-steepening has been studied As a result, they separate from each other, and the separa-
extensively.27 28 To isolate the effects of self-steepening tion increases almost linearly with the distance.
governed by the parameter s, it is useful to set 3 = 0
and R = 0 in Eq. (9). Pulse evolution inside fibers is then 4.3. Intrapulse Raman Scattering
governed by
Intrapulse Raman scattering plays the most important role
u 1 2u
i + +  u 2 u + is  u 2 u = 0 (12) among the higher-order nonlinear effects. Its effects on
 2 2  solitons are governed by the last term in Eq. (9) and were
Self-steepening creates an optical shock on the trail- observed experimentally in 1985. Since then, this higher-
ing edge of the pulse in the absence of the GVD effects. order nonlinear effect has been studied extensively.19 To
This phenomenon is due to the intensity dependence of isolate the effects of intrapulse Raman scattering, it is use-
the group velocity that results in the peak of the pulse ful to set 3 = 0 and s = 0 in Eq. (9). Pulse evolution
moving slower than the wings. The GVD dissipates the inside fibers is then governed by:
shock and smoothes the trailing edge considerably. How- u 1 2u  u 2
ever, self-steepening would still manifest through a shift i + +  u  2
u =  R u (13)
 2 2 
of the pulse center.
In the stimulated Raman scattering the Stokes process is
Self-steepening of the pulse leads to the formation of
more effective than the anti-Stokes process.23 29 This fact
a steep front in the trailing edge of the pulse, resembling
leads to the so-called self-shift frequency of the pulse.
the usual shock wave formation. This effect is called the
As a result the spectrum is shifted down to the low
optical shock. The pulse becomes more asymmetric in the
frequency region. In other words, the medium “amplifies”
propagation and its tail finally breaks up.22 24 25
the long wavelength parts of the pulse. The pulse losses its
The effect of self-steepening on higher-order solitons
energy and changes complicatedly when it enters deeply
is remarkable in that it leads to breakup of such solitons
into medium.
into their constituents, a phenomenon referred to as soliton
The effect of intrapulse Raman scattering on higher-
decay. Figure 9 shows this behavior for a second-order
order solitons is take a minor role than the case of self-
soliton (N = 2 using s = 00042 For this relatively large
steepening. In particular, even for a large values of R

RESEARCH ARTICLE
value of s, the two solitons have separated from each other and for the long distance of the propagation, this effects
within a distance of two soliton periods and continue to change the form of the pulse relatively.31 Figure 10 shows
move apart with further propagation inside the Tellurite such a decay for a second-order soliton (N = 2 by solving
glass. (Comparison with silica fiber see after Agrawal,19 Eq. (13) numerically with R = 001. (Comparison with
z = 5/2, s = 02, 0 = 1 ps). silica fiber see after Agrawal19 z = 5/2, and 0 = 1 ps).
A qualitatively similar behavior occurs for smaller values
of s except that a longer distance is required for the breakup
4.4. Generalized Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation
of solitons. In the absence of self-steepening (s = 0, the
two solitons form a bound state because both of them prop- For the ultrashort pulses with the width 0 = 100 fs
agate at the same speed (the eigenvalues have the same real and the carrier wavelength 0 = 08 m the higher-order

Fig. 9. Decay of a second-order soliton N = 2 induced by self- Fig. 10. Decay of a second-order soliton (N = 2 induced by intrapulse
steepening s = 00042, 0 = 100 fs, z = 10/2. Raman scattering R = 001 0 = 100 fs, z = 50/2.

J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 6, 1–6, 2011 5

 Femtosecond Laser Pulse Propagation in Novel Fiber: Tellurite Glass Codoped Er3+ /Tm3+ Khelladi

femtosecond laser pulse we presented here that this novel

material is capable to resolve the problem proposed by
self steepening and intra pulse Raman scattering in silica
and fluoride fiber for a long distance and for femtosecond
pulse.

References and Notes

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parameters in Eqs. (10) during their propagation in the (1996).
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

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Tellurite glass fibers exhibit significant advantages over titanium sapphire, Thesis of doctorate, Tlemcen University-Algeria
the fluoride and silicate glass fibers for propagation of (2010).

Received: xx Xxxx xxxx. Accepted: xx Xxxx xxxx.

6 J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 6, 1–6, 2011