| Waveguide lasers in rare-earth-doped glasses have emerged as an attractive new technology on the threshold of wide-scale manufacturing and commercial insertion. This thesis presents a timely contribution to the subject of waveguide lasers. The thesis presents detailed investigations of rare-earth spectroscopy, ion-exchange modelling, waveguide laser fabrication, and waveguide laser evaluation. The focus of the thesis is a waveguide laser made from the neodymium-doped phosphate glass, NIST-1A.; The thesis starts with a brief history of these devices. The results of neodymium-doped silicate glass waveguide lasers are presented next. The spectroscopic properties of the new neodymium-doped phosphate glass, NIST-1A, are then investigated. Several different techniques, including the Judd-Ofelt method, are used to determine the stimulated-emission cross section of the glass. Excited state absorption in the glass is analyzed using a new technique based on ground-state absorption.; Ion exchange from solid silver films is investigated theoretically and experimentally. A model that predicts silver concentration profiles in ion-exchanged waveguides is introduced. I present computer simulations as well as experimental measurements of compositional and optical properties of these waveguides.; Fabrication of the NIST-1A waveguide laser is then described. A general discussion of waveguide laser fabrication is followed by the complete process used to make the NIST-1A waveguide laser.; The operational characteristics of the NIST-1A waveguide laser are presented next. I analyze the threshold and slope efficiency of the laser and address optimization of laser performance. |
