title: Observation of Fine Distribution of Minor Dopants in an Erbium-Doped Fiber Core using a Sample Thinning Technique for Field Emission Electron Probe Microanalysis.
abstract: To observe the fine distribution of minor aluminum and germanium dopants in the erbium-doped fiber (EDF) core of an optical amplifier, a sample thinning technique was applied for field emission electron probe microanalysis (FE-EPMA) together with wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometry. This technique significantly improved the spatial resolution without much degradation of the minimum detection limit for FE-EPMA. As such, this enabled us to observe the distribution of minor dopants in EDF. Moreover, we propose a very simple sample preparation to prevent electron-beam radiation damage, a problem involved with FE-EPMA of low-conductivity materials such as SiO2 glass, which is the main component of EDF.
authors.affiliation: Analysis Technology Research Center,Sumitomo Electric Industries,Ltd. 1-1-3,Shimaya,Konohana-ku Osaka-shi,Osaka 554-0024,Japan.
authors.forename: Yugo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.affiliation: Analysis Technology Research Center,Sumitomo Electric Industries,Ltd. 1-1-3,Shimaya,Konohana-ku Osaka-shi,Osaka 554-0024,Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuramochi
keywords: erbium-doped fiber; field emission electron probe microanalysis; minor dopants; sample thinning technique