A high-gain cladded waveguide amplifier on erbium doped thin-film lithium niobate fabricated using photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching
Liang Youting,
Zhou Junxia,
Liu Zhaoxiang,
Zhang Haisu,
Fang Zhiwei,
Zhou Yuan,
Yin Difeng,
Lin Jintian,
Yu Jianping,
Wu Rongbo,
Wang Min,
Cheng Ya
Affiliations
Liang Youting
State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai200062, China
Zhou Junxia
State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai200062, China
Liu Zhaoxiang
The Extreme Optoelectromechanics Laboratory (XXL), School of Physics and Electronic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
Zhang Haisu
State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai200062, China
Fang Zhiwei
The Extreme Optoelectromechanics Laboratory (XXL), School of Physics and Electronic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
Zhou Yuan
State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics and CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-Intense Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai201800, China
Yin Difeng
State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics and CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-Intense Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai201800, China
Lin Jintian
State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics and CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-Intense Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai201800, China
Yu Jianping
State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics and CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-Intense Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai201800, China
Wu Rongbo
State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics and CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-Intense Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai201800, China
Wang Min
The Extreme Optoelectromechanics Laboratory (XXL), School of Physics and Electronic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
Cheng Ya
State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai200062, China
Erbium doped integrated waveguide amplifier and laser prevail in power consumption, footprint, stability and scalability over the counterparts in bulk materials, underpinning the lightwave communication and large-scale sensing. Subject to the highly confined mode in the micro-to-nanoscale and moderate propagation loss, gain and power scaling in such integrated devices prove to be more challenging compared to their bulk counterparts. In this work, a thin cladding layer of tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) is employed in the erbium doped lithium niobate (LN) waveguide amplifier fabricated on the thin film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) wafer by the photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching (PLACE) technique. Above 20 dB small signal internal net gain is achieved at the signal wavelength around 1532 nm in the 10 cm long LNOI amplifier pumped by the diode laser at ∼980 nm. Experimental characterizations reveal the advantage of Ta2O5 cladding in higher optical gain compared with the air-clad amplifier, which is further explained by the theoretical modeling of the LNOI amplifier including the guided mode structures and the steady-state response of erbium ions.
