Ag+ planar waveguides in novel Er–Yb silicate glasses Original Research Article

Planar waveguides were prepared by silver ↔ sodium ion-exchange in a set of specially designed europium–ytterbium-doped silicate glasses. In this study, we focused on the influence of co-doping glasses with ytterbium ions on their final behaviour. First, a suitable molar ratio between Er3+/Yb3+ ions was searched in order to maximize the efficiency of absorption of the pumping signal at 980 nm and consequently to increase the intensity of the emitted signal at 1550 nm. Transmission spectra at 980 and 1550 nm and emission spectra at 1550 nm of these new glasses are given. Second, effect of ytterbium ions on permeability of a glass network structure during the ion-exchange process of waveguides fabrication was also studied. Properties of the fabricated planar waveguides were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to gain information about chemical composition of the active layer prepared in Er3+/Yb3+ substrate and dark mode spectroscopy at 671 nm to obtain information about the optical properties (e.g. number of guided modes, refractive index profiles and depth of waveguide active layer).