Abstract

Fabrication and characterization of neodymium-doped planar channel waveguide lasers in GeO₂-rich, soda-lime silicate glass are reported. Measured fluorescence and absorption specta for the glass are identical to those of soda-lime silicate glass containing no GeO₂. Single mode chan­nel waveguides are fabricated in the glass by standard photolithography and KNO₃ thermal ion exchange. Thin dielectric mirrors are placed in direct contact with the polished ends of the waveguide by using index-matching fluid, and a 13 mm long device is pumped at 800 nm by using a Ti-sapphire laser. The slope efficiency is 1.6%, and the lasing threshold is 30 mW. Lasing is achieved simultaneously at 1058.8 nm, 1060 nm, 1063 nm, and 1065 nm at high pump powers. The use of a GeO₂-rich glass may facilitate the integration of multiple com­ponents, such as distributed feedback reso­nators, onto a single substrate. This integration can be performed by direct-write techniques using UV light (245 nm) tuned to the germanium-oxygen valence defect band. Experiments to form Hill gratings in the GeO₂-rich laser glass by two-photon absorption at the 488 nm line of an argonion laser are reported.

© 1992 Optical Society of America