Potassium ion-exchanged Er-Yb doped phosphate glassamplifier

A process is developed to make potassium ion-exchanged waveguides in erbium-ytterbium co-doped phosphate glasses. The effects of pump and signal wavelengths, and of the waveguide length on the gain in the waveguides are investigated. At a signal wavelength of 1.530 µm, 19.5 dB internal gain is achieved in a 6 mm long waveguide; the measured noise factor is 4 dB.