Er doped hybrid sol-gel materials

The existence of optical amplification at 1.55 mu m wavelength in channel waveguides using Erbium dopent and 980 nm Laser pump involves an OH and CH3 groups quantity as low as possible. Moreover, a high refractive index variation between the guide and the cladding is necessary to induce a maximum confinement and then increase the dopent efficiency. In this way, we propose a study of different routes we explored to reach this goal: use of F catalysis (to enhance condensation), hybrophobic precursors to reduce the OH quantity, and a diacrylate monomer whose reactivity allows a high refractive index change under UV light exposure.