Sol - Gel Method To Make Optical Amplification Of Thin Film Materials

With the development of optical fiber communication and integrated optics, Er³⁺-doped waveguide amplifier (EDWA) becomes the hotspot of study and application in the field of optical fiber communication and optoelectronics. However, the development of Er³⁺-doped waveguide amplifier requires the preparation of optical waveguide thin-film. The main task of this paper is to study the structure and optical characteristics of EDWA, and the preparation of Er³⁺-doped optical wave-guide film with sol-gel technology.Firstly, this paper introduces the historical developments, the new achievements, and the main points of EDWA in recent years. The gain characteristics of EDWA have been investigated by solving numerically propagation equations and rate equations at pump wavelength 980nm. The gain characteristics are functions of waveguide length, erbium concentration and pump light power, so the relations between them are analyzed in detail in this paper. The size of EDWA is also discussed here, which has some reference value for the following study and the design of waveguide amplifier. Then the gain characteristics of erbium-ytterbium codoped waveguide amplifier (EYCDWA) have been discussed.Analyze the principle of sol-gel method and fabrication technique of silicate thin films by the sol-gel processes is introduced. The technological conditions which affect sol-gel processes, such as water volume, PH numerical value, ethanol volume, thickness of the coating are studied. Point out the questions in this process. The preparation process of stable sols containing various codopants, such as germanium and ytterbium are presented. Waveguide fabricated by the sol-gel route is also presented at last.Stable and transparent boric silicate,Er³⁺-doped phosphosilicate, Er³⁺-doped aluminasilicate glass sol was prepared by the sol-gel route. Then the gel film can be prepared by dip-coating or spin-coating technique on the surface of glass and followed by drying in the ethanol vapor. Thick layers of silicate glasses can be formed by repetitively using this technique. Waveguide structures can be fabricated by sintering the sample at certain temperature. Microscope was employed to investigate the surface...