Absorption and emission cross sections of Er(3+) in Al(2)O(3) waveguides.

Al(2)O(3) slab waveguide films were doped with erbium using ion implantation to a peak concentration of 1.5 at. %. Prism coupling measurements show absorption caused by (4)I (15/2) ?(4)I (13/2) intra-4f transitions in Er(3+) with a maximum at 1.530 mum of 8 dB/cm. The Er(3+) absorption cross section is determined as a function of wavelength. We used the McCumber theory to derive the emission cross section spectrum from the absorption results, which we then compared with the Er(3+) photoluminescence spectrum. The peak absorption and emission cross sections are found to be 6 x 10(-21) cm(-2). The results are used to predict the optical gain performance of an Er-doped Al(2)O(3) optical amplifier that operates around 1.5 mum.

Direct imaging of optical interference in erbium-doped Al(2)O(3) waveguides.

Interference of 1.48-microm light in multimode interference waveguides is made visible by imaging green and infrared upconversion luminescence from Er(3+) ions dispersed in the waveguide. A two-dimensional mode density image can be derived from the data and agrees well with mode calculations for this structure. This new technique provides an interesting tool for the study of optical mode distributions in complicated waveguide structures and photonic band-gap materials.