Publication No: 2716

Broadband single transverse-mode fluorescence sources based on ribs fabricated in pulsed laser deposited Ti:sapphire waveguides

C.Grivas, T.C.May-Smith, D.P.Shepherd, R.W.Eason, M.Pollnau*, M.Jelínek**

Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, UK
* Institute of Imaging and Applied Optics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
** Institute of Physics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8, Czech Republic

Abstract

Active rib waveguides with depths and widths varying from 3 to 5 μm and from 9 to 24 μm respectively, have been structured by Ar⁺ beam etching in pulsed laser deposited Ti:sapphire layers. Losses in the channel structures were essentially at the same levels as the unstructured planar waveguide host suggesting therefore that there is no significant additional contribution to loss from the rib fabrication procedure. Measurements of the beam propagation factors, M_x² and M_y² indicate single transverse mode fluorescence emission. The fluorescence output power was in the order of 300 μW when the structures were pumped by a 3W multiline argon laser. These characteristics make the rib structures suitable as light sources for optical coherence tomography (OCT) applications and facilitate their coupling to the optical fiber interferometers of such systems.

Applied Physics A (2004) Vol.79 pp.1195-1198

doi: 10.1007/s00339-004-2716-9

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