A short high-gain waveguide amplifier based on low concentration erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate on insulator

Abstract

One hotspot of integrated optics is how to realize a highly integrated and high-gain on-chip amplification system in a thin film of lithium niobate on insulator (TFLNOI). Here, a low erbium-doped TFLNOI waveguide amplifier with shorter length is demonstrated using the photolithography-assisted oblique-reactive ion etching technique. A maximum net internal gain of 5.4 dB in the small-signal-gain regime is measured at the peak emission wavelength of 1531.35 nm for a waveguide length of 1.5 mm and an erbium-doped concentration of 0.1 mol. %, indicating a gain per unit length of 36 dB cm−1. This work paves the way for the monolithic integration of diverse active and passive photonic components on the TFLNOI platform.