Polymer Waveguide Amplifier Doped With LiYF₄: Er³⁺,Yb³⁺Nanocrystals

Rare-earth ion doped waveguide amplifier is a good future prospects opticalamplifier after semiconductor optical amplifiers, optical fiber amplifier. Erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers can be integrated with modulators, optical switches,arrayed waveguide gratings and isolators, compensate for loss of light transmission.Rare-earth ion doped organic polymer waveguide amplifiers, solved the problem of alow change of the refractive index, complex process, difficult to integrate withsilicon-based materials and other shortages. It has the following advantages： easy tochange the refractive index of the polymer material, small device size, light weight,and it has a unique advantage in the production of high-density integrated devices.In this thesis， we use the SU-8photoresist doped with LiYF4: Er3+,Yb3+nanocrystals to fabricate core-clad co-doped polymer optical waveguide amplifiersand a rectangular structure waveguide amplifier. Detailed works are as follows:We use the method of thermal decomposition to synthesize the LiYF4: Er3+,Yb3+nanocrystals，carried out the LiYF4: Er3+,Yb3+nanocrystals morphology, crystalstructure and near-infrared emission characteristics for a detailed characterization.Use the SU-8photoresist doped with LiYF4: Er3+,Yb3+nanocrystals, we fabricatedcore-clad co-doped polymer optical waveguide amplifiers and a rectangular structurewaveguide amplifier. Waveguide structure and morphology of the device werecharacterized, and the device has been tested. For a980nm wavelength pump powerof~170mW, a relative optical gain of~2dB at1535nm was achieved in core-cladco-doped polymer optical waveguide amplifiers doped with LiYF4: Er3+,Yb3+nanocrystals. For a980nm wavelength pump power of~180mW, a relative opticalgain of~3.9dB at1535nm was achieved in a rectangular structure waveguideamplifier.