Abstract
The limited solubility of rare-earths in silica hampers the development of loss-compensated photonic integrated circuits. We report a novel method using femtosecond laser plasma assisted hybrid material integration of rare-earth-doped tellurite with silica, achieving high doping concentration of Er3+ and Yb3+-ions, 1.63 × 1021 atoms.cm−3,without segregation validated by Er3+:4I13/2 lifetime of 9.1 ms. The sequential ablation of two individual rare-earth (Er3+/Yb3+) doped-tellurite glass targets produces an exceptional intermixing of Er3+ and Yb3+-ions extending to the pristine silica with sharp interface. Formation of such homogeneous glass structure with Er3+-Yb3+-ions in a matrix of silica is not possible to realise by conventional methods.
Highlights
Rare-earth (RE) doped silicates have been widely explored as an amplifying medium for the optical communication systems [1]
The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) cross-sectional images of the samples sample 1 (S1) and Sample 2 (S2), as prepared by focused ion beam (FIB) lithography is shown in Fig. 2(a) and 2(b), respectively
The rare-earth doped tellurite modified silica (RETS) layer formed by the sequential approach was further analyzed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)
Summary
Rare-earth (RE) doped silicates have been widely explored as an amplifying medium for the optical communication systems [1]. Reported erbium chloride incorporated silicates can have Er3+-ion density of 1022 cm−3, but the metastable lifetime is 20 times shorter at 540 μs than in standard EDFA [9] This shortened lifetime is due to the phenomena of concentration quenching, where the physical limits of ion-ion interactions are reached, assisting macroscopic energy transfer, evidenced by the very short lifetimes at the 4I13/2 level [10, 11]. We propose an alternative technique, based on ultrafast laser plasma assisted RE-rich tellurite and silica hybrid material integration, to enhance the RE solubility and photoluminescence (PL) emission characteristics of REs in silica In this technique, multi-ion doping, including Er3+-ions, is possible into the silica glass network [13]. The results of inter-layer mixing yields remarkable spectroscopic results and shall eliminate the issues related to the fabrication of dense Er3+-doped silica platform
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