Dicon Fiberoptics, Inc.

Seng Fatt Liew

Ho-Shang Lee

Yizhuo He

Methods and techniques are presented to inhibit crystallization in optical waveguide structures, during high temperature annealing or deposition, thus preventing the formation of crystalline grains that scatter and/or absorb light. Dopant atoms or molecules are used to disrupt crystallization. The dopant atoms or molecules are selected to be transparent to the optical signal's wavelength range(s). Optical signals propagating in a waveguide that is fabricated with such techniques will experience reduced propagation loss or insertion loss. The passive dopants can also be used in active devices such as lasers or optical amplifiers that incorporate optically active dopants, as long as the passive dopants are chosen so that they do not interact with the active dopants.

Inhibiting crystal growth in optical waveguide structures, for reduced absorption and insertion loss using optically-passive dopants in the core

A solid-state optical amplifier chip is described, with improved pumping, in which pump light from one or more solid-state light sources is coupled efficiently into the doped areas of the chip, resulting in amplification of an optical signal. The optical signal is carried in the core of an optical waveguide. Rare-earth elements are used as dopants, primarily in the cladding of the optical signal's waveguide core, in order to provide amplification of the optical signal through stimulated emission. A variety of waveguide structures are described for routing and distributing the pump light to the doped areas of the chip.

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Berkeley, CA, United States of America

Seng Fatt Liew