Claims
- 1. An optical device comprising:
a) a substrate b) an optical gain medium comprising a doped bulk glass composition supported by said substrate c) at least an upper cladding layer deposited over the optical gain medium to define a waveguiding region within the optical gain medium for receiving a pump beam and transmitting an output beam.
- 2. An optical amplifier device comprising:
d) a substrate e) an optical gain medium comprising a doped bulk glass composition supported by said substrate, f) at least an upper cladding layer deposited over the optical gain medium to define a waveguiding region within the optical gain medium for mixing a pump beam input signal and conveying an amplified ouput signal.
- 3. An optical amplifier device comprising:
g) a substrate h) an optical gain medium comprising a doped bulk glass composition supported by said substrate, i) at least an upper cladding layer deposited over the optical gain medium to define a waveguiding region within the optical gain medium for mixing a pump beam input signal and conveying an amplified output signal wherein the difference between the refractive index of the cladding is greater than about 0.009.
- 4. An optical amplifier device according to claim 3 wherein the optical gain medium has a thickness of at least 8 microns.
- 5. An optical amplifier device according to claim 4 wherein the waveguiding medium has an aspect ratio of height to width of about 0.5:1 to 1.5:1.
- 6. An optical amplifier device according to claim 3 further comprising a channel waveguide of an undoped waveguiding medium in optical communication with the optical gain medium.
- 7. An optical amplifier device according to claim 3 wherein the interface between the undoped waveguiding medium and the optical gain medium further comprises means for reducing the optical impedance.
- 8. An optical amplifier device according to claim 3 wherein the interface between the undoped waveguiding medium and the optical gain medium further is a graded composition.
- 9. An optical amplifier device according to claim 3 wherein the interface between the undoped waveguiding medium and the optical gain medium further comprises additional layers to provide step changes in refractive index.
- 10. An optical amplifier device according to claim 3 wherein the interface between the undoped waveguiding medium and the optical gain medium further is not perpendicular to the direction of light propagation at least one of the waveguide segment adjacent to the interface.
- 11. A method of fabricating an active optical device, the method comprising:
j) forming a first planar surface in a substrate material, k) forming a second planar surface on optical medium in the form of a bulk glass, l) optical contacting the first and second planar surface, m) fusing the first and second planar surface, n) reducing the thickness of the active optical medium to about 10 microns, o) defining a channel waveguide route within the about 10 micron thick optical media, p) removing optical medium surrounding the channel waveguide route, q) forming an upper cladding layer on top of the remaining portions of the optical media such that the refractive index of the upper cladding and the optical medium differ by at least 0.008.
- 12. A method of fabricating an optical amplifier
r) forming a planar surface in a first substrate material s) forming a planar surface in a second substrate material t) forming a channel waveguide region on the first substrate by:
i) fusing a optical gain medium derived bulk optical glass to the first planar surface ii) patterning waveguide channels within the optical gain medium iii) depositing an upper cladding layer on the waveguide channels iv) sectioning the first substrate into bars containing one or more waveguide channels u) disposing the bar derived from the first substrate on the second substrate in optical communication with an optical signal source selected from the group consisting of an optical fiber, an optical fiber laser, a waveguide laser, and an arrayed waveguide.
- 13. A waveguide optical amplifier comprising:
v) a planar substrate, w) a first waveguide segment having an upper cladding layer terminating at a pump port proximate the edge of said planar substrate, x) a second waveguide segment having an upper cladding layer terminating at an input signal port proximate the edge of said planar substrate, y) a third waveguide segment having an upper cladding layer terminating at an output signal port proximate the edge of said planar substrate, z) an optical filter disposed at the output signal port for reflecting the optical pump source.
- 14. A waveguide optical amplifier according to claim 13 wherein the optical filter is a multilayer interference filter.
- 15. A waveguide optical amplifier according to claim 13 wherein the multilayer interference filter is selected from
the group consisting of a gain flattening filters, a bandpass filter, a broadband reflective filter.
- 16. A method of amplifying an optical signal, the method comprising;
aa) coupling a first optical fiber carrying an input signal at a first port at the first terminal end of a first waveguide segment formed on a planar substrate, bb) coupling a second optical fiber for transmitting an amplified output signal at a second port at the first terminal end of a second waveguide segment formed on the planar substrate wherein
i) the first terminal ends of the first and second waveguide arms are proximate the edge of the substrate, ii) the second terminal end of the first waveguide segment is optically coupled to the second terminal end of the second waveguide segment, and iii) at least one of the first and second waveguide segments traverse a waveguide region comprising rare earth dopants dispersed in the waveguide material to form an optical gain medium, cc) coupling an optical pump having a first wavelength emission range at a third port proximate the edge of said substrate, wherein the optical pump is optically coupled to the second waveguide segment, dd) exciting the optical pump source to illuminate at least the second waveguide segment, ee) reflecting the optical pump source radiation by a first optical filter disposed between the second port and the second optical fiber pump beam twice passes through the portion of the optical amplification medium traversed by the input signal.
- 17. An integrated optical device comprising:
ff) a first substrate gg) one or more optical waveguide devices supported by said substrate, at least one of said waveguiding devices comprising,
i) a second substrate, ii) an optical gain medium comprising a doped bulk glass composition supported by said second substrate, iii) at least an upper cladding layer deposited over the optical gain medium to define a waveguiding region within the optical gain medium for receiving a pump beam and transmitting an output beam.
- 18. The integrated optical device according to claim 17 further comprising and optical fiber having a core region in optical communication with the optical gain medium via an optical port for on the horizontal facet of said optical waveguide device.
- 19. The integrated optical device according to claim 17 wherein said optical waveguide device comprises two or more waveguide channels.
- 20. The integrated optical device according to claim 17 wherein said optical waveguide device comprises an optical coupling between two or more waveguide channels formed at the interface between the optical gain medium and an undoped optical medium.
- 21. The integrated optical device according to claim 17 further comprising an optical waveguide device selected from the group consisting of gain flattening filters, optical tap filters, optical fiber lasers, waveguide lasers and an arrayed waveguide grating.
- 22. The integrated optical device according to claim 21 wherein an optical filter is formed on the end facet of said optical waveguide device.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims priority from provisional application serial number 60/294,569 filed on Jun. 1, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60294569 |
Jun 2001 |
US |