Multiple rare earth emissions in a multicore tellurite fiber with a single pump wavelength

A three-core tellurite glass fiber having different combinations of rare earth oxide dopants in each core has been fabricated using shaped die-extrusion. Three cores, doped with Ho³⁺-Tm³⁺-Yb³⁺, Er³⁺-Ce³⁺, and Tm³⁺-Yb³⁺ respectively, exhibited visible upconversion (blue, green and red) and infrared emissions at 1.4 µm, 1.5 µm, 1.9 µm and 2.05 µm when pumped at a wavelength of 980 nm. The prospects for multi-band amplifiers and lasers are discussed. © 2007 Optical Society of America.