Er/sup 3+/-Yb/sup 3+/ codoped phosphate glass waveguide amplifier using Ag/sup +/-Li/sup +/ ion exchange

An Er/sup 3+/-Yb/sup 3+/ codoped phosphate glass waveguide amplifier using an Ag/sup +/-Li/sup +/ ion exchange process is demonstrated. The glass contains Li/sup +/ instead of Na/sup +/ and the spectroscopic properties were characterized. The emission parameters were calculated, and the radiative quantum efficiency of the
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I/sub 13/2/ to
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I/sub 15/2/ transition is estimated to be /spl sim/100 %. The planar glass waveguide amplifier produces a net gain /spl sim/3.3 dB/cm with an input signal wavelength of 1.535 μm at a power of -40 dBm, for 120 mW of 980-nm pump power.