Active waveguides written by femtosecond laser irradiation in an erbium-doped phospho-tellurite glass

We report on fs-laser micromachining of active waveguides in a new erbium-doped phospho-tellurite glass by means of a compact cavity-dumped Yb-based writing system. The spectroscopic properties of the glass were investigated, and the fs-laser written waveguides were characterized in terms of passive as well as active performance. In particular, internal gain was demonstrated in the whole C+L band of optical communications (15301610 nm). (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.