Diode-Laser-Pumped Glass-Clad Ti:Sapphire Crystal-Fiber-Based Broadband Light Source

Glass-clad crystal fibers were grown using the codrawing laser-heated pedestal growth method. Both single-clad and double-clad structures were attempted. Using a 446-nm laser diode as the pump, 2.45 mW of collimated broadband emission was generated with a 3-dB bandwidth of 180 nm. As much as 7.7 mW of output power with a 3-dB bandwidth of 182 nm was generated using a 532-nm solid-state pump laser. The broadband light source is advantageous to use in optical coherence tomography with an axial resolution of 1.5 in air and a low image pixel crosstalk.