Facile approach towards the fabrication of compact and miniature Er3+-doped waveguide amplifiers

Abstract

Compact and miniature optical amplifiers operating in the near-infrared wavelength range are in ever-increasing-demand for integrated optical communication devices and subsystems. Due to low dopant concentration and the relatively large size of conventional fiber amplifiers, however, much effort is shifting toward compact and miniature waveguide structures. We hereby demonstrate a simple and effective method for the fabrication of optical waveguide devices. The devices can be fabricated by using a miniature rare-earth-ion-doped-glass microneedle coupled with two fiber collimators at the input and output ends of the waveguide. The experimental results show that, with a pump power of 500 mW, a small-signal net gain of 13.20 dB at 1530 nm is achieved in the 1.0 cm-length active microneedle with a more than 1.0×1026 ion/m3 dopant concentration. This approach can be considered as a new gateway for the fabrication and wide application of compact and miniature waveguide devices in the future.