Transverse Bragg resonance laser amplifier.

We propose and analyze a new type of optical amplifier that is formed by addition of gain in the periodic cladding of a transverse Bragg resonance waveguide [Opt. Lett. 27, 936 (2002)]. Using the coupled-wave formalism, we calculate the mode profiles, the exponential gain constant, and, for comparison, the gain enhancement compared with those of conventional semiconductor optical amplifiers. In contrast with coupled-mode theory, in one-dimensional structures (e.g., the distributed-feedback laser) the exponential gain constant in the longitudinal direction is involved in both longitudinal and transverse confinement, and its solution has to be achieved self-consistently, together with the quantized guiding channel width.