Abstract

Rare-earth-doped waveguide lasers captivate because of their ability to confine pump and generated laser radiation in one or two dimensions perpendicular to the direction of propagation. This results in reduced pump power thresholds and higher gain per unit pump power as compared to bulk active media. The most prominent example of a waveguiding structure is the glass fibre. However, crystalline devices fabricated on planar substrates allow access to the higher peak cross sections of crystalline host materials. In this way, planar and channel waveguides can be envisaged. In addition, the integration of several devices on a single substrate seems feasible, which is a prerequisite for the realization of optical integrated circuits.

© 2000 IEEE