Cooperative upconversion as the gain-limiting factor in Er doped miniature Al2O3 optical waveguide amplifiers
- 1 May 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Journal of Applied Physics
- Vol. 93 (9), 5008-5012
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1565697
Abstract
Erbium doped waveguide amplifiers were fabricated using two different doping methods, namely Er ion implantation into sputter deposited and co-sputtering from an target. Although the Er concentration in both materials is almost identical (0.28 and 0.31 at. %), the amplifiers show a completely different behavior. Upon pumping with 1.48 μm, the co-sputtered waveguide shows a strong green luminescence from the level, indicating efficient cooperative upconversion in this material. This is confirmed by pump power dependent measurements of the optical transmission at 1.53 μm and the spontaneous emission at 1.53 and 0.98 μm. All measurements can be accurately modeled using a set of rate equations that include first order and second order cooperative upconversion. The first order cooperative upconversion coefficient is found to be in the co-sputtered material, two orders of magnitude higher than the value obtained in Er implanted of It is concluded that the co-sputtering process results in a strongly inhomogeneous atomic scale spatial distribution of the Er ions. As a result, the co-sputtered waveguides do not show optical gain, while the implanted waveguides do.
Keywords
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