Home > Press > Ultra fast optical amplifier: silicon and erbium on one chip for the first time
 |
| Image of the chip including silicon optical waveguide (SOI: silicon on insulator) as well as erbium-doped aluminium oxyde. |
Abstract:
Within optical microchips, light finds its way through channels, waveguides, made of silicon. Light from a glass fiber, for example, is led through a structure of optical channels with splitters and couplers. Silicon is the workhorse for this, but it is still passive conduction of light, with some losses as well. To be able to amplify the signal, or even to include a light source on the chip, extra steps are necessary. Other types of semiconductors, like Gallium Arsenide, are an option. But materials doped with the rare earth material erbium have good amplification properties as well.
Ultra fast optical amplifier: silicon and erbium on one chip for the first time
Enschede, Netherlands | Posted on September 22nd, 2012
Until now, no chip existed, on which both silicon and erbium-doped material were integrated. In her thesis, PhD candidate Laura Agazzi of the University of Twente demonstrates a working chip for the first time. It will be able to amplify light at speeds up to 170 Gbit/sec. The prototype chip has a signal gain of 7.2 decibel at infrared light (1533 nanometer).
The prototype is a starting point, but the results are very promising. One of the possibilities is a laser with an extremely narrow linewidth of 1.7 kHz. "In any application that needs emission or amplification of light, this integration of both materials is useful. It is not limited to telecom. You could use these chips for sensor purposes, for tracing extremely small particles, for example," Agazzi adds.
Trade-off
Laura Agazzi has investigated the optical properties of aluminium oxide doped with erbium, to understand the mechanisms that influence the amplification properties in a negative way. One of these is called energy-transfer up conversion (ETU), which is detrimental for good functionality."If you want a large amplification, you would like to put many erbium ions in the material, this in turn can cause a higher ETU. There are possibilities in adapting the host material, causing less interaction of the ions. With my models, I have gained better insight in these and other mechanisms that lower the amplification.
Laura Agazzi (1983, Vimercate, Italie) conducted her research within the Integrated Optical Microsystems (IOMS) of prof Markus Pollnau, which is part of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente. On Sep 20 she successfully defended her thesis Spectroscopic Excitation and Quenching Processes in Rare-Earth-Ion-Doped Al2O3 and their Impact on Amplifier and Laser Performance. Her thesis, or a summary, are available digitally.
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Wiebe van der Veen
+31612185692
Copyright © AlphaGalileo
If you have a comment, please
Contact us.
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
News and information
Aspen Aerogels Announces $22.5 Million Private Placement May 18th, 2013
NanoInk, Inc. Assets To Be Sold May 18th, 2013
Beautiful "flowers" self-assemble in a beaker: Elaborate nanostructures blossom from a chemical reaction perfected at Harvard May 17th, 2013
Scientists capture first direct proof of Hofstadter butterfly effect May 17th, 2013
Chip Technology
UC Riverside scientists discovering new uses for tiny carbon nanotubes: Adding ionic liquid to nanotube films could build smaller gadgets, and create more cost effective 'Smart Windows' that darken in bright sun May 15th, 2013
Nanometrics Announces Upcoming Investor Events May 14th, 2013
HELIOS Program Develops Complete Supply Chain for Integrating Photonics with CMOS Circuit via IC Fabrication Processes May 14th, 2013
Silex Microsystems Joins ENIAC Project PROMINENT To Bring Flexible and Cost Effective Inkjet Technologies to the MEMS Manufacturing Process: Silex Will Develop New Solutions for Through-Silicon Via Manufacture and Hermetic Wafer Bonding May 13th, 2013
Optical Computing
Moth-Inspired Nanostructures Take the Color Out of Thin Films May 17th, 2013
UC Riverside scientists discovering new uses for tiny carbon nanotubes: Adding ionic liquid to nanotube films could build smaller gadgets, and create more cost effective 'Smart Windows' that darken in bright sun May 15th, 2013
Use of laser light yields versatile manipulation of a quantum bit May 1st, 2013
University of Illinois researchers measure near-field behavior of semiconductor plasmonic microparticles: Nanometer-scale heating reveals surface plasmon resonance April 22nd, 2013
Discoveries
Beautiful "flowers" self-assemble in a beaker: Elaborate nanostructures blossom from a chemical reaction perfected at Harvard May 17th, 2013
Artificial Forest for Solar Water-Splitting: Berkeley Lab Researchers Report First Fully Integrated Artificial Photosynthesis Nanosystem May 17th, 2013
Moth-Inspired Nanostructures Take the Color Out of Thin Films May 17th, 2013
Scientists capture first direct proof of Hofstadter butterfly effect May 17th, 2013
Announcements
Aspen Aerogels Announces $22.5 Million Private Placement May 18th, 2013
NanoInk, Inc. Assets To Be Sold May 18th, 2013
NIA Public Briefing: Nanotechnology and the Council of Europe May 17th, 2013
Scientists capture first direct proof of Hofstadter butterfly effect May 17th, 2013
Photonics/Optics/Lasers
Moth-Inspired Nanostructures Take the Color Out of Thin Films May 17th, 2013
UC Riverside scientists discovering new uses for tiny carbon nanotubes: Adding ionic liquid to nanotube films could build smaller gadgets, and create more cost effective 'Smart Windows' that darken in bright sun May 15th, 2013
HELIOS Program Develops Complete Supply Chain for Integrating Photonics with CMOS Circuit via IC Fabrication Processes May 14th, 2013
VDMA: New “Photonics Industry Report 2013” presented May 14th, 2013