Imaging of Bloch oscillations in erbium-doped curved waveguide arrays

We report a direct observation of Bloch-like dynamics of light in curved waveguide arrays manufactured in Er:Yb-doped phosphate glass by femtosecond laser writing. The green upconversion fluorescence emitted by excited erbium ions is exploited to image the flow of the guided pump light at similar to 980 nm along the array. Direct and clear evidence of periodic light breathing for single-waveguide excitation, closely related to Bloch oscillations, is reported. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.