Vertical Intra-Cavity Pumped Erbium-Doped Waveguide Amplifier on GaAs

目的：本研究的目标是一种新的方法，实现高性能的掺铒波导放大器（EDWA）的波分复用光纤通信网络的成本适合广泛的城域网部署。 智力优势：这项工作的优点在于提出了一种基于GaAs的EDWA，它结合了最近正在申请专利的发现：一种高质量的氧化InAlP铒基质材料，以及通过一种相对较新的非选择性湿热氧化技术实现的氧化平滑低损耗高折射率对比度脊形波导，以及一种新颖的谐振垂直腔内泵浦（VIP）方案，用于谐振增强激发源的紧凑，单片集成。富含磷酸盐的InAlP天然氧化物提供非常高的Er掺杂浓度，具有长的荧光衰减寿命和非常宽的放大带。 VIP激发提供高泵浦效率、均匀泵浦分布、用于噪声控制的多级泵浦、简化的封装以及增加光子集成的可能性。更广泛的影响：这项工作的影响来自于预期的组件成本的显著降低，这将使超高速多波长光通信在家庭、学校和医疗机构中变得可行，从而促进带宽密集型应用的加速开发和采用，例如数字视频、视频会议和跨多平台的互联网通信。 该研究还可能导致用于测距的人眼安全的高能脉冲波导激光源和用于化学传感的宽带放大自发辐射源。该项目通过将研究活动与本科工程专业的教学、教师参与者的研究经验以及对代表性不足的少数民族的辅导相结合，促进教学、培训和学习。

Objective:This research targets a new approach for realizing high-performance erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers (EDWAs) for wavelength division multiplexed optical fiber communication networks at a cost suitable for widespread metropolitan area network deployment. Intellectual Merit:The merit of this effort lies in a proposed GaAs-based EDWA which incorporates recent patent-pending discoveries: a high quality oxidized InAlP erbium host material, and oxidation-smoothed low-loss high-index-contrast ridge waveguides enabled by a relatively new nonselective wet thermal oxidation technique, with a novel resonant vertical intra-cavity pumping (VIP) scheme for the compact, monolithic integration of a resonant-enhanced excitation source. The phosphate-rich InAlP native oxides afford very high Er doping concentrations with long fluorescence decay lifetimes and a very broad amplification band. VIP excitation offers high pumping efficiency, even pump distribution, multi-stage pumping for noise control, simplified packaging, and the possibility for increased photonic integration. Broader Impacts:The impacts of this work flow from the expected significant reductions in component cost which will benefit society by making ultra-high-speed multi-wavelength optical communications viable for the home, schools and medical offices, thus promoting the accelerated development and adoption of bandwidth-intensive applications such as digital video, video conferencing, and internet communications across multiple platforms. The research may also lead to eye-safe high-energy pulsed waveguide laser sources for range finding and broadband amplified spontaneous emission sources for chemical sensing. The project promotes teaching, training and learning through the integration of research activities with teaching of undergraduate engineering majors, Research Experience for Teachers participants, and the mentoring of underrepresented minorities.