Quenching of neodymium fluorescence by molecular hydrogen.
We show that the hydrogen-loading technique used to enhance a fiber's ultraviolet photosensitivity for writing Bragg gratings can lead to quenching of the lasing ion's fluorescence. The neodymium fluorescence and radiative lifetimes are measured for the untreated fiber, the hydrogen-loaded fiber, and the postannealed fiber. We show that postannealing can be used to remove the unreacted hydrogen molecules from the fiber laser and restore the radiative lifetime to near that of its original value.
J D
JD
Prohaska
D P
DP
Machewirth
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E
Snitzer