The photonic crystal structure opens new doors for the fiber laser community by enabling tailoring of the parameters of standard fibers. Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are challenging to produce since they require advanced fabrication techniques, notably sensitive stacking inside the fiber preform and careful processing without breaking the desired pattern, but once the techniques are mastered, most properties of the fiber can be altered to suit the desired applications.
Asst. Prof. Bülend Ortaç of the Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology (UNAM) and his research team have recently achieved the ability to fabricate such advanced types of fibers in Turkey. The research group’s investigations have focused on developing high-power fiber lasers, studying and producing hitherto state-of-the-art components such as kilowatt-class step-index active/passive fibers and laser/pump combiners. With PCFs recently being shown to obtain unprecedented results, the Ortaç group has succeeded in manufacturing PCFs capable of supporting single-mode waveguiding—the first time this has been accomplished in Turkey.