Amplification in erbium-doped silica-based planar lightwave circuits

We report the realization of Er-doped silica-based waveguide amplifiers. The gain is maximized in a 19.4 cm-long waveguide at a concentration of 0.55 wt% with a pump power of 100 mW at a wavelength of 980 nm. The linear dependence of the gain on the waveguide length is observed. A net gain of 13.7 dB is achieved at a wavelength of 1.535 µm with the Er-doped planar waveguide.