Sol-gel processing is a very good method for the preparation of silica and other oxide glass planar optical waveguides, including those doped with rare-earth ions like Nd3+ or Er3+, for applications such as integrated optics lasers and amplifiers. In active integrated optics devices for 1.54 micrometers , involving Er3+ doping, a low vibrational energy glass matrix is desirable, in order to increase the quantum efficiency of the Er3+ emission; however, this is even more important in the case of Pr3+. Here, therefore, the use of a low vibrational energy sulfide glass becomes particularly adequate, although the sol-gel processing of non-oxide glasses is still in its infancy.
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