Er/sup 3+//Yb/sup 3+/ co-doped BK-7 glass optical amplifier

Rare-earth doped Yb/Er BK-7 glass was fabricated and characterized. The photoluminescence (PL) intensity in these co-doped samples saturates at a Yb/Er ratio of 10, and the intensity increases by /spl sim/10 times compared to that of Er doped samples. The lifetime decreases as the Er concentration increases, for Yb/Er co-doped samples the lifetime is longer. Rare-earth doped glass amplifiers were fabricated by the ion-exchange process, and a net gain of 2.2 dB/cm at a pump power of 110 mW was obtained.