Preparation and Properties of Er-Doped ZrO2 Nanocrystalline   Phase-Separated Preforms of Optical Fibers by MCVD Process
  The fabrication of Er-doped ZrO2-based nanocrystalline phase-separated silica optical preforms by the MCVD and solution doping techniques is presented. Fabricated preform cores are nearly transparent and contain phase-separated rare-earth doped nanocrystalline particles with diameters mainly in a range from 20 to 80 nm. High concentrations of erbium and aluminium in preform cores of about 0.3 and 14 mol%, respectively have been achieved without defects on the core-cladding interface. Spectral losses in a range 800-1600 nm and fluorescence spectra of erbium ions around 1550 nm measured on a fibre drawn from the preform are reported. 
Anirban Dhar (IPE), Ivan Kasik (IPE), Ondrej Podrazky (IPE), Vlastimil   Matejec (IPE), Bernard Dussardier (LPMC)
cond-mat.mtrl-sci physics.optics