On-Chip Er: Ta2O5 optical pulse amplifier

Abstract

Erbium ions doped in tantalum pentoxide (Er:Ta2O5) offer a promising foundation for achieving efficient optical amplification of telecommunication signals in photonic integrated circuits (PICs). In this paper, an on-chip Er:Ta2O5 waveguide optical pulse amplifier operating at 1550 nm wavelength band (C-band) is reported. Silica-clad Er: Ta2O5 rib waveguides were fabricated using RF magnetron sputtered film patterned by photolithography and dry-etched by Ar-ion beam milling. On-chip amplification of continuous wave (CW) and pulsed signals in C-band were demonstrated. Furthermore, the Er: Ta2O5 chip was evaluated for real-time optical communication by transmitting data streams in baseband and radio-over-fiber (RoF) schemes. The transmitted data was decoded and processed to determine the bit error rate (BER). The low BER values highlight the potential of the Er: Ta2O5 platform for high-speed optical communication applications