Single-mode optical waveguides based on planar silica have found increasing application in passive optical components such as arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG), couplers, and splitters. Key aspects of these devices are their low insertion losses and relative insensitivity to temperature. Planar polymer waveguides present a complementary technology that is finding deployment in thermally activated components such as thermo-optic switches, variable attenuators and tunable filters. This results from the large thermo-optic effects and low thermal conductivities in polymers that lead to low power, compact and rapid thermal activation. However, the widespread deployment of planar polymer waveguides has been slowed by inability of single-mode polymer waveguides to achieve the low waveguide losses that have been attained in planar silica. In this paper we look at the sources of loss in polymer optical waveguides, assess approaches to reducing losses, and discuss several important loss measurement techniques valuable for evaluation of new polymer materials.
The erbium doped waveguide amplifier (EDWA) provides the benefits of high gain per unit length and compact size. We use the erbium two-level system model with the measured material properties and waveguide properties to study the amplifier performance dependence on operating conditions and EDWA lengths. We have established a modeling, simulation, and designing framework to systematically study the amplifier performance issues from materials to device packaging. Simulations of two EDWA examples based on alumino-silicate and phosphate glasses are carried out in detail.
The optical properties and characteristics of rare earth- doped polymers have been studied to evaluate their viability for use in optical amplifiers. Rare earth ions are encapsulated in organic, covalently bonded chromophores. The optical properties of various rare earth chromophores doped into polymers are measured and calculated and are then used in numerical simulations of amplifiers and lasers. The result provide an estimate of their potential device performance and establish the fundamental bases for applications in photonics. Owing to their distinct advantages, such as chromophore energy transfer effects, high rare earth ion concentrations, shielding of the ion form high energy vibrations of the host, enhanced optical transition moments and controllable decay rates and branching ratios, rare earth-doped polymers are found to be promising candidates for various device applications. Numerical simulations for samarium and europium doped polymers indicate that gains about 10 dB and greater are achievable in relatively short polymer optical fiber and waveguide amplifiers. Studies of the dependence of metastable state lifetime of rare earth doped polymer systems on doping concentrations reveal that rare earth chromophores dissociation occurs at low concentrations. These results are used to optimize the parameters of our rare earth doped polymer optical waveguide amplifiers.
The optical properties and characteristics of rare earth- doped polymers have been studied to evaluate their viability for use in amplifier and laser applications. Rare earth ions are encapsulated in organic, covalent bonded chromophores. The optical properties of various rare earth chromophores doped into polymers are measured and calculated and are then used in numerical simulations of amplifiers and lasers. The result provide an estimate of their potential device performance and establish the fundamental bases for these applications in photonics. Owing to their distinct and important advantages, such as chromophore energy transfer effects, high rare earth ion concentrations, shielding of the ion from high energy vibrations of the host, enhanced optical transition moments, and controllable decay rates and branching ratios, rare earth-doped polymers are found to be promising candidates for various device applications. Numerical simulations for samarium chromophore, for example, indicate that gains about 10 dB and greater are achievable in relatively short polymer optical fiber amplifiers operating at 650 nm.
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