Ring-Type Erbium-Doped Antiresonant Reflecting Optical Waveguide Amplifier Analysis and Design

摘要

Erbium-doped antiresonant reflecting optical wave- guides (ARROWs) allow combining wavelength selective guiding due to their attractive spectral versatility with an active operation. In this letter, the analysis and design of a ring-type erbium-doped ARROW amplifier is presented. The influence of the involved passive and active parameters (ring thickness and diameter, refractive index variation, pump and signal wavelengths, Er^{3+-ion concentration, and input pump power) on the spectral response of the structure and the optical power propagation losses and on the amplifier performance is numerically analysed. The opposite influence of the ring diameter on the optical power confinement and on the pump power density causes the existence of a diameter value that maximizes the amplifier net gain. For a cladding refractive index of 1.4 and moderate index variations,$Delta n = 0.2 -0.4$, the optimum ring diameter is in the range of 20$mu ext{m}$. To compensate signal confinement losses (a few dB/cm), high erbium concentrations ($sim 1imes 10^{26}$ion/m3) are required.}