Patent ID: 7298547

Claim:
A 2-μm amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) source, comprising: An optical fiber including, At least one cladding layer formed from a heavy metal oxide multicomponent glass host selected from one of germanium oxide (GeO 2 ), Tellurium oxide (TeO 2 ) and bismuth oxide (Bi 2 O 3 ) from 20% to 90% by weight, a glass network modifier (MO) selected from K 2 O, Na 2 O, Li 2 O, BaO, CaO, MgO, ZnO, Y 2 O 3 , PbO, or combinations thereof from 5% to 40% by weight, and a glass network intermediator (XO) selected from Al 2 O 3 , B 2 O 3 , La 2 O 3 or combinations thereof from 5% to 30%, by weight; and A core formed from the same glass host and doped with 0.1-20 weight % of thulium or holmium oxide or mixtures thereof; and A pump source configured to inject optical energy into the fiber to excite the dopant oxide ions in the core and build-up and emit amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from the fiber at wavelengths between 1.7 micron and 2.1 micron with a full-width half-maximum bandwidth of 100 nm to 300 nm.