Title :
Waveguide lasers in the C-band fabricated by laser inscription with a compact femtosecond oscillator
Author :
Osellame, Roberto ; Chiodo, Nicola ; Della Valle, Giuseppe ; Cerullo, Giulio ; Ramponi, Roberta ; Laporta, Paolo ; Killi, Alexander ; Morgner, Uwe ; Svelto, Orazio
Author_Institution :
Inst. di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, Nat. Res. Council, Milan, Italy
Abstract :
Femtosecond laser writing of high-quality optical waveguides by means of a compact diode-pumped cavity-dumped Yb:glass laser oscillator is reported. Waveguides have been written on an erbium-ytterbium co-doped phosphate glass for active device production. A detailed analysis of the optical characteristics of waveguides written with different repetition rates, pulse energies, and translation speeds is presented, and an optimum set of writing parameters is established. Coupling losses as low as 0.1 dB/facet with standard telecom fibers and propagation losses lower than 0.4 dB/cm have been obtained. Characterization of the active properties of the waveguides is also presented, together with the demonstration of waveguide laser action in the whole C-band with peak output power of more than 30 mW.
Keywords :
erbium; high-speed optical techniques; laser materials processing; optical communication equipment; optical fabrication; optical glass; optical pumping; phosphate glasses; solid lasers; waveguide lasers; ytterbium; cavity-dumped Yb:glass laser oscillator; coupling losses; diode pumping; erbium-ytterbium codoped phosphate glass; femtosecond laser writing; propagation losses; waveguide lasers; Diodes; Glass; Optical pulses; Optical waveguides; Oscillators; Production; Propagation losses; Ultrafast optics; Waveguide lasers; Writing; Erbium-doped waveguide lasers; integrated optics; laser material-processing applications; ultrafast lasers;
Journal_Title :
Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JSTQE.2006.872731
