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

目的：本研究旨在为波分复用光纤通信网络提供一种新的实现高性能掺铒光波导放大器的方法，其成本适合于城域网络的广泛部署。智能优点：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：高质量的氧化InAlP Er基质材料，以及由相对较新的非选择性湿式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。富磷的InAlP天然氧化物具有很高的掺Er浓度，具有很长的荧光衰减寿命和很宽的放大带。VIP激励提供了高泵浦效率、均匀的泵浦分布、用于噪声控制的多级泵浦、简化的封装以及提高光子集成度的可能性。更广泛的影响：这一工作流程的影响来自预期的组件成本大幅降低，这将使超高速多波长光纤通信适用于家庭、学校和医疗办公室，从而促进跨多个平台的数字视频、视频会议和互联网通信等带宽密集型应用的加速开发和采用，从而造福社会。这项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工程专业本科生的教学、教师参与者的研究经验以及对代表人数不足的少数群体的指导相结合，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.