Modeling multicore integrated waveguides in highly doped glass

Abstract

Active integrated multicore waveguide structures (AIMWS) with high refractive index contrast values and controlled local composition can be fabricated inside a bulk doped glass as a result of recent developments in high repetition femtosecond laser writing. The modeling of these structures presents some distinct characteristics when compared to that of corresponding multicore fiber structures. In this paper we present a study of the influence of two of these features in the signal amplification: the glass homogeneous doping and the existence of a zone of depressed refractive index. In order to do that, we use a home-made computer code that solves the optical power propagation equations of the structure supermodes coupled to the rate equations of the active ions.