One-photon, two-photon pumped distributed feedback zirconia waveguide lasers

This paper reports recent development of distributed feedback (DFB) waveguide lasers based on sol-gel materials. Dye-doped zirconia and zirconia-organically modified silicate channel waveguides were fabricated using the wet and dry etching approaches. One-photon-pumped DFB lasing was induced in channels with widths from 5 to 30 μm. Wavelength tuning was achieved from 570 to 608 nm for rhodamine 6G-doped channels and from 787 to 933 nm for LDS 925-doped channels, respectively. Two-photon-pumped DFB laser action of narrow linewidth (∼60 pm) was demonstrated in zirconia planar waveguides doped with trans-4-[p-(N-hydroxyethyl-N-methylamino) styryl]-N-methylpyridinium p-toluene sulfonate. Transient DFB structures were generated in the waveguides by crossing two nanosecond 1.06 μm beams. Operated at the third order Bragg resonance condition, wavelength tunable laser emission was observed from 618 to 640 nm.