Abstract

Optically active thin films have many potential applications as waveguide lasers and amplifiers. Since the recent development of the Er doped fiber amplifier for telecommunications, there has been an intense research activity in the production of Er doped active waveguides for operation at 1.5 µm. The most common approaches to produce waveguides are ion exchange, in-diffusion or ion implantation which require a two step process and produce a non uniform doping profile. This work reports on the successful growth of in-situ Er doped active films with a step dopant profile by pulsed laser deposition. A comparison between two different approaches is presented which involve the use of a single doped target or two targets (one for the matrix and one for the dopant) which are alternatively ablated.

© 1996 IEEE