Er$^{3+}$–Yb $^{3+}$ Codoped Silica Waveguide Amplifiers Longitudinally Pumped by Broad-Area Lasers

We present a longitudinal multimode pumping scheme which allows Yb-sensitized Er-doped silica waveguide amplifiers to be effectively pumped by high-power and low-cost broad-area lasers. The proposed configuration is based on evanescent pump light coupling from a multimode low-loss waveguide to a Er-Yb codoped active core. Theoretical predictions, based on propagation and population-rate equations for the coupled Er-Yb system, show that longitudinal multimode pumping by high-power broad-area lasers at around 980 nm can provide up to 4-dB gain per centimeter, suggesting possible integration of low-cost amplifiers with important applications in wavelength-division-multiplexing metro and access optical networks.