Waveguide amplifiers based on slot waveguide have enormous capacity due to their ability to confine light strongly to a narrow slot waveguide. NaYF4:Er3+ nanoparticles-polymeric methyl methacrylate covalently linked nanocomposites were synthesized and filled into the slot. The stability and the Er3+ concentration doped in this novel material were improved. The slot waveguide was designed accurately. The rigorous numerical method, full-vector finite difference method, was used to analyze the modal characteristics and optimize the slot combined with the maximum power confinement in the slot and the minimum effective mode area of the slot. A four-level spectroscopic model pumped at 1480 nm was presented. The rate equations and propagation equations were solved and the gain characteristics of the slot waveguide amplifier were numerically simulated. The primary parameters were optimized. A net gain of 5.78 dB was achieved when the signal power was 0.001 mW at 1530 nm, pump power was 20 mW, Er3+ concentration was 1.3 × 1027 m-3, and the waveguide length was 1.5 cm.
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.