Ion-exchanged Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped waveguide amplifiers longitudinally pumped by broad area lasers

Area of Science:

• Integrated optics
• Waveguide amplifiers
• Rare-earth doped materials

Background:

• Erbium-ytterbium co-doped materials are crucial for optical amplifiers.
• Developing cost-effective and high-performance integrated amplifiers remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel multimode pumping scheme for Er(3+)/Yb(3+) co-doped waveguide amplifiers.
• To demonstrate a cost-effective and high-performance integrated amplifier solution.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of waveguide amplifiers using the ion-exchange (IE) technique on silicate and phosphate glasses.
• Numerical simulation using a 3D finite element modelling tool.
• Experimental characterization of the fabricated amplifier structure.

Main Results:

• Predicted over 3 dB/cm small signal gain for an optimized amplifier design.
• Achieved efficient energy transfer from Ytterbium (Yb3+) to Erbium (Er3+) ions.
• Provided preliminary experimental evidence of the multimode longitudinal pumping scheme.

Conclusions:

• The proposed multimode pumping scheme offers a viable route to high-performance, cost-effective integrated waveguide amplifiers.
• The combination of efficient energy transfer and broad area lasers is key to this approach.
• This work lays the foundation for further development of advanced integrated optical amplifiers.