Modelling of diffractive structures in photorefractive Er/Yb–co-doped glass waveguides

Abstract

The photorefractive properties of Ge-doped glasses are routinely exploited for the production of Bragg gratings in optical fibres. Today, the most common fabrication procedure relies on the phase-mask technique, which allows to produce (through UV irradiation) a periodical refractive index variation in Ge-doped fibre cores. The same methodology can be applied to integrated optical components in photorefractive glass planar substrates. If rare earth ions (such as erbium and ytterbium) are included in the glass matrix, both active and photorefractive properties can be combined in the same material. This fact allows for the possibility of realizing complex integrated optical components, such as Bragg-reflection lasers and amplifiers. In this work, a numerical analysis of a waveguide Bragg reflector is presented based on a homemade modelling technique.