| We present the results of our studies on the optical properties, doping mechanisms, and optical signal amplification processes of rare earth doped polymer optical fiber and waveguide amplifiers. First, we develop our rare earth doped polymers and investigate the rare earth doping mechanisms. Second, we experimentally measure the optical properties of these materials and optimize these properties by designing the polymer structures and compositions. Thirdly, a numerical simulation model is developed to evaluate the optical performance of fiber and planar waveguide amplifiers based on these materials.; Due to the qualitatively different features of our rare earth doped polymer materials from their glass counterparts, ran earth ions can be doped into polymer hosts in extremely high concentrations, making short length optical amplification devices feasible in rare earth doped polymer systems. We fabricate our rare earth doped polymers and measure their optical properties, such as the absorption spectra, the emission spectra and the metastable state lifetimes. Further, we calculate the optical transition cross-sections from the measured absorption and emission spectra as well as the fluorescence decay rate. The viability of light amplification is investigated in rare earth doped polymer optical devices based on planar waveguide as well as cylindrical waveguide configurations. The dependence of amplification performance on various parameters of rare earth doped amplifiers are studied by numerical calculations. Simulation results are utilized to optimize the configurations of our rare earth doped optical amplifiers.; An important issue in rare earth doped systems is the concentration effect. We discovered the dissociation of tetrakis rare earth chromophores in rare earth doped polymer systems, and present a new time-resolved spectroscopic technique to quantitatively determine the fractional concentrations of different chromophore species in various solvents. Based on this technique, the dissociation constants of tetrakis rare earth chromophores in rare earth doped polymers are determined. We further characterize the dissociation of several chromophore systems and discuss the impact of such dissociation on overall optical performance. The results enable us to determine optimal doping concentrations as well as preferred rare earth chromophore structures and polymer waveguide fabrication procedures. |
