Active waveguide based on thin lithium niobate core with Er3+/Yb3+ cladding

Abstract

Active waveguide has widely been used in the modern technology. It provides a good confinement of light and amplification for signal transmission in a long distance with low energy loss. The applications of active waveguide, for example, are telecommunication, photonic integrated circuit and laser etc. In this project study, active waveguide based on a thin film lithium Niobate on Isolator (LNOI) was fabricated, in which LiNbO3 is acting as core and Er3+ / Yb3+ co-doped polymer is acting as cladding. Some equipment such as Spin Coater and MJB4 mask aligner are used for coating Er3+ / Yb3+ co-doped polymer onto the LNOI waveguide and the thickness of the polymer is more than 10μm. The excitation experiments were carried out with 980nm pump and a C-band tunable laser. We observed an optical gain of 3.8dB through the 6.2mm waveguide at 1533.4nm, corresponding to a waveguide gain as 6.17dB/cm with a 980nm pump power of 14.97μW.