Optimized magneto-optical isolator designs inspired by seedlayer-free terbium iron garnets with opposite chirality

Abstract

Simulations demonstrate that undoped yttrium iron garnet (YIG) seedlayers cause reduced Faraday rotation in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides with Ce-doped YIG claddings. Undoped seedlayers are required for the crystallization of the magneto-optical Ce:YIG claddings, but they diminish the interaction of the Ce:YIG with the guided modes. Therefore new magneto-optical garnets, terbium iron garnet (TIG) and bismuth-doped TIG (Bi:TIG), are introduced that can be integrated directly on Si and quartz substrates without seedlayers. The Faraday rotations of TIG and Bi:TIG films at 1550nm were measured to be +500 and -500°/cm, respectively. Simulations show that these new garnets have the potential to significantly mitigate the negative impact of the seedlayers under Ce:YIG claddings. The successful growth of TIG and Bi:TIG on low-index fused quartz inspired novel garnet-core waveguide isolator designs, simulated using finite difference time domain (FDTD) methods. These designs use alternating segments of positive and negative Faraday rotation for push-pull quasi phase matching in order to overcome birefringence in waveguides with rectangular cross-sections