Open AccessUltrafast laser inscription of a high-gain Er-doped bismuthate glass waveguide amplifier
Author(s) -
Robert R. Thomson,
N. D. Psaila,
Stephen J. Beecher,
A. K. Kar
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.013212
Subject(s) - materials science , optics , amplifier , ultrashort pulse , laser , waveguide , optoelectronics , fiber laser , net gain , insertion loss , optical amplifier , fiber , wavelength , physics , cmos , composite material
An Er-doped bismuthate glass waveguide amplifier has been fabricated using ultrafast laser inscription. Under zero pump conditions, the 87.0 mm long waveguide exhibited a fiber-to-fiber insertion loss of 4.0 dB at 1618 nm, outside the Er(3+) ion absorption band. We attribute approximately 1.8 dB of the insertion loss to coupling losses, 0.2 dB to Fresnel reflections and approximately 2.0 dB to propagation losses. When pumped using 1050 mW of 980 nm light, the amplifier exhibited a peak internal gain per unit length of 2.3 dB.cm(-1) at 1533 nm and a peak fiber-to-fiber net gain of 16.0 dB at 1533 nm. In this paper we also report the results of output power saturation and noise figure measurements.