Polymer Waveguide Optical Amplifier Using Organic/Inorganic Nanocomposites Doped With Rare-Earth-Metal Nanoclusters

Abstract

We fabricated planar polymer optical waveguides doped with Eu-Al nanoclusters, and successfully demonstrated their optical amplification at a wavelength of 614 nm under both pulsed operation using a N₂laser (λ=337 nm) and CW operation using a frequency-doubled diode-pumped solid-state laser (λ=532 nm). The optical gain was found to be as high as 5.57 dB/mm, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest one obtained in rare-earth-doped planar optical waveguides. Further, it was confirmed that the concentration quenching is well suppressed in the Eu-Al/PMMA planar waveguide.