Characterization of Erbium Doped Glass Optical Waveguides by a Fine Tunable Semiconductor Laser

In this paper we describe some methods for characterization of the new active optical channel waveguides (suitable for waveguide lasers and amplifiers at 1550 nm) by means of a fine-tunable semiconductor laser. The channel waveguides were fabricated by ion-exchange technique K⇔ Na and Ag⇔ Na in the newly designed Er-doped silicate glass substrate. The effect of the used technology on the basic parameters of the waveguide, i.e. optical field distribution, spectral dependencies of absorption and optical losses, was investigated. In the conclusion, the results obtained are discussed mainly from the point of view of differences in the waveguides’ fabrication technology; and new trend in the fabrication is suggested.