Fabrication and characterization of channel optical waveguides in Er/Yb-doped silicate glasses

Er–Yb Waveguide Amplifiers in Novel Silicate Glasses

“…In this concept, a lossless splitter for signal distribution into a number of outputs combined with an optical amplifier and a pump-signal de/multiplexer is highly desirable, especially in the local area networks. Many research groups have focused on the development of optical amplifiers Manuscript received October 11, 2007; revised January 7,2008 [4]- [6]. The latter is an effective and cheap fabrication technique [7], which has already allowed development of low-loss straight as well as bent channel waveguides.…”

“…Concerning the devices, 1 32 coupler [8] is being commercially used, and the integrated pump-signal (980 nm/1550 nm) de/multiplexer [9] has been recently developed. The only major disadvantage of the ion exchange technique is that it requires thoughtful adjustment of the technological procedure appropriate for a certain combination of a chosen glass substrate [6] and the expected utilization of the waveguide. However, once the fabrication procedure is adjusted, this technique enables formation of huge amount of low-cost waveguides with fully reproducible properties.…”