EDFA Materials

  Vandana Ranga

High purity glasses are much in demand in photonics, non-linear optical components, chemical sensors, semiconductor technology and many other related areas. The conventional glasses require high temperatures for melting of powders. The sol- gel technique offers low temperature preparation without melting and thus provides a better control over the microstructure. In the sol-gel route, glass hydrolyses and polymerizes at near room temperature ensuring better homogeneity in the resulting product. Aging changes the structure and phase of the gel due to hydrolysis and condensation and syneresis. During the sol-gel process, organic precursors are turned into a gel which is then transformed into a transparent and crack free solid glass upon densification due to sintering. The amplification properties offered by Erbium doped Glasses at 1.6µm are highly sought after in photonics. This property is used in Erbium doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA). The loss encountered by the propagating wave in the optical fiber is compensated for by the EDFA. Samples of various stoichiometry doped with Erbium, Ytterbium and co-doped with Aluminum were prepared. XRD of samples sintered below 1100º show absence of crystalline structure. DTA/TGA show that the weight loss is due to removal of hydroxyl ions. FT-IR Spectra was observed using the KBr pellet method. Micro Raman spectra were measured using Argon laser as exciting source.

Keywords- erbium, glasses , photonics, KBr pellet, sol-gel

Unique Identification Number - IJEDR2004029
Page Number(s) - 175-177
Pubished in - Volume 8 | Issue 4 | December 2020
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) -   
Publisher - IJEDR (ISSN - 2321-9939)

  Vandana Ranga,   "EDFA Materials", International Journal of Engineering Development and Research (IJEDR), ISSN:2321-9939, Volume.8, Issue 4, pp.175-177, December 2020, Available at :http://www.ijedr.org/papers/IJEDR2004029.pdf