Sol-gel processing is a very good method for the preparation of silica and other oxide glass planar optical waveguides, including those doped with rare-earth ions like Nd³⁺ or Er³⁺, for applications such as integrated optics lasers and amplifiers. In active integrated optics devices for 1.54 micrometers , involving Er³⁺ doping, a low vibrational energy glass matrix is desirable, in order to increase the quantum efficiency of the Er³⁺ emission; however, this is even more important in the case of Pr³⁺. Here, therefore, the use of a low vibrational energy sulfide glass becomes particularly adequate, although the sol-gel processing of non-oxide glasses is still in its infancy.

Date Published: 2 May 2000
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 3943, Sol-Gel Optics V, (2 May 2000); doi: 10.1117/12.384332

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3943:
Sol-Gel Optics V
Bruce S. Dunn; Edward J. A. Pope; Helmut K. Schmidt; Masayuki Yamane, Editor(s)