Abstract

Erbium-doped zirconia glass has demonstrated low-loss, single-mode waveguides in the near infrared as well as net gain of 1 dB/cm when pumped at 980 nm, ¹ which makes it a suitable material for optical amplifiers and lasers. Its large index of refraction and low 590 cm⁻¹ maximum phonon energy compared to other films offer potential advantages for use in integrated optical devices. In this paper, the ludd-Ofelt theory^2,3 is used to show that efficient optical amplifiers and lasers are feasible in zirconia by pumping at 1480 nm rather than 980 nm.

© 2002 Optical Society of America