Neodymium-complex-doped photodefined polymer channel waveguide amplifiers

Channel waveguides based on a polymer, 6-fluorinated-dianhydride/epoxy, which is actively doped with a Nd complex, Nd(thenoyltrifluoroacetone)(3) 1,10-phenanthroline, are fabricated by a simple and reproducible procedure, spin coating a photodefinable cladding polymer onto a thermally oxidized silicon wafer, photopatterning, backfilling with the active core polymer, and spin coating with an upper cladding layer. Photoluminescence at 1060 nm from the Nd(3+) ions with a lifetime of 130 mus is observed. Optical gain at 1060 nm is demonstrated in channel waveguides with different Nd(3+) concentrations. By accounting for the waveguide loss of 0.1 dB/cm, an internal net gain of 8 dB is demonstrated for a 5.6-cm-long channel waveguide amplifier. Owing to the nature of the Nd(3+) complex, energy-transfer upconversion affects the gain only at Nd(3+) concentrations above 1 x 10(20) cm(-3).