Fabrication of Yb3+/Er3+ codoped Bi2O3–WO3–TeO2 pedestal type waveguide for optical amplifiers

Abstract

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, experimental results on pedestal waveguides produced with Yb3+/Er3+ codoped Bi2O3–WO3–TeO2 thin films deposited by RF Sputtering for photonic applications. Thin films were deposited using Ar/O2 plasma at 5mTorr pressure and RF power of 40W on substrates of silicon wafers. The definition of the pedestal waveguide structure was made using conventional optical lithography followed by plasma etching. Propagation losses around 2.0dB/cm and 2.5dB/cm were obtained at 633 and 1050nm, respectively, for waveguides in the 20–100μm width range. Single-mode propagation was measured for waveguides width up to 10μm and 12μm, at 633nm and 1050nm, respectively; for larger waveguides widths multi-mode propagation was obtained. Internal gain of 5.6dB at 1530nm, under 980nm excitation, was measured for 1.5cm waveguide length (∼3.7dB/cm). The present results show the possibility of using Yb3+/Er3+ codoped Bi2O3–WO3–TeO2 pedestal waveguide for optical amplifiers.