Nanophotonics (Apr 2024)

On-chip wavelength division multiplexing by angled multimode interferometer fabricated on erbium-doped thin film lithium niobate on insulator

  • Han Jinli,
  • Bao Rui,
  • Wu Rongbo,
  • Liu Zhaoxiang,
  • Wang Zhe,
  • Sun Chao,
  • Zhang Zhihao,
  • Li Mengqi,
  • Fang Zhiwei,
  • Wang Min,
  • Zhang Haisu,
  • Cheng Ya

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0020
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 15
pp. 2839 – 2846

Abstract

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Photonic-integrated circuits based on erbium-doped thin film lithium niobate on insulator has attracted broad interests with insofar various waveguide amplifiers and microlasers demonstrated. Wideband operation facilitated by the broadband absorption and emission of erbium ions necessitates the functional integration of wavelength filter and multiplexer on the same chip. Here, a low-loss wavelength division multiplexer at the resonant pumping and emission wavelengths (∼1480 nm and 1530–1560 nm) of erbium ions based on angled multimode interferometer is realized in the erbium-doped thin film lithium niobate on insulator fabricated by the photolithography assisted chemomechanical etching technique. The minimum on-chip insertion losses of the fabricated device are 20 nm is measured at the telecom C-band. Besides, direct visualization of the multimode interference pattern by the visible upconversion fluorescence of erbium ions compares well with the simulated light propagation in the multimode interferometer. Spectral tuning of the wavelength division multiplexer by structural design is also demonstrated and discussed.

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