Glass Matrix Waveguide And Its Erbium-doped Waveguide Optical Amplifiers Ion Exchange Was Prepared

In order to satisfy the need of development of metro networks, local networks and even residential networks that have high demand on fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology, investigations on functional integrated optical waveguide devices has become the focus of the research of modern fiber-optic communication. Ion-exchange technique is an important method to fabricate glass-based planar lightwave circuits (PLC), it has very important research value and broad application background due to its low-cost, simplicity and low optical loss. This Ph.D thesis focuses on research works in the subject of "Glass waveguides and erbium-doped waveguide amplifier formed by ion-exchange technique". The research works include the fabrication of rare-earth doped glass waveguide amplifier and lossless power splitter by two step thermal ion-exchange; realization of silica-based waveguide devices on silicon substrate (SOS waveguide devices); active SOS waveguide amplifier with net optical gain fabricated by ion-exchanging on Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped silica glass film. The main achievements are:1. Low-loss channel waveguide devices on silicon substrate were prepared by a combination of ion-exchange and sol-gel techniques. The transmission loss of the channel waveguide is 0.5 dB/cm and the coupling loss with the standard single-mode fiber is 0.76 dB/facet. This work makes the ion-exchange technique possible in preparing SOS waveguide devices and largely enhances the probability of fabricating more complex devices by ion-exchange technique.2. Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped waveguide amplifier (EYDWA) with net gain of wavelength 1558 nm were formed by ion-exchange on rare-earth doped ion-exchangeable SOS film. Gain characteristic of the EYDWA was numerically modeled. This novel route takes the advantages of both sol-gel and ion-exchange techniques, as silica glass film with high rare-earth doping level can be prepared by sol-gel method on silicon substrate and channel waveguides can be formed by the simple and low-cost ion-exchange process. The achievement provides a new way in preparing EDWA.3. A waveguide amplifier having net gain of 6 dB at wavelength 1534 nm was fabricated by two-step thermal ion-exchange method on bulk Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate glass substrate. A 1×2 lossless power splitter was also realized. The two dimensional diffusion process and the corresponding refractive index profile of the channel waveguide were numerically modeled using a finite element method (FEM). Gain characteristic of the waveguide amplifier was also modeled using velocity equation theory, with the results matching well with the experiments.