title: Measuring gain and noise in active long-range surface plasmon-polariton waveguides.
abstract: We describe techniques and an experimental setup to measure the gain and noise characteristics of a long-range surface plasmon-polariton amplifier consisting of a symmetric metallic stripe waveguide incorporating optically pumped dye molecules in the solution as the gain medium. The setup is capable of acquiring absolute power measurements at the amplifier's output over a narrow optical bandwidth. This allows independent characterization of the amplifier's gain via measurements of stimulated emission and via measurements of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) over a narrow optical bandwidth, both obtained during the same experimental run. In addition, the absolute power measurements of ASE quantify directly the amplifier's noise.
authors: School of Information Technology and Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada. ideleon@site.uottawa.ca
authors: Israel
authors: I
authors: De Leon
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Berini