Design of Er3+ doped SiO2–TiO2 planar waveguide amplifier

Er-doped silica–titania channel waveguide amplifiers are investigated by means of a home-made computer code to test their feasibility. The optical, spectroscopic and geometrical parameters measured on the fabricated slab waveguides, are used in the simulation model, which takes into account the pump and signal propagation, the amplified spontaneous emission, and the secondary transitions pertaining to the ion–ion interactions. By simulation, in the small signal operation, a gain close to 4.6 dB is demonstrated for a channel waveguide 5 cm long, by using a pump power of 200 mW; the signal wavelength being λs=1533 nm, pump and signal co-propagating.