Plastic optical fiber lasers and amplifiers containing lanthanide complexes

Recently, considerable progress was achieved on plastic optical fiber lasers and amplifiers containing lanthanide ions. However, the ultimate limits of these systems was not yet researched, and multidisciplinary efforts to devise new plastic optical fibers for lasers and amplifiers should be continued. Further development should be focused on obtaining lower cost, easier fabrication, better mechanical and thermal stability, and higher quantum yield of lanthanide ion fluorescence.