Erbium-doped polymer waveguide amplifiers for board-level optical interconnects

Abstract

Optical interconnects have an important role to play in next-generation high-performance electronic systems by enabling power-efficient high-speed board-level communication links. Polymer-based optical waveguides is a leading technology for integrating optical links onto standard printed circuit boards as it is sufficiently low cost and enables cost-effective manufacturing and assembly. Various polymer-based optical backplanes have been reported in recent years enabling different on-board interconnection architectures. However, all currently demonstrated systems are purely passive, which limits therefore the reach, complexity and functionality of these on-board systems. Here, we present recent simulation and experimental studies towards the development of Er-doped polymer-based waveguide amplifiers. Two different approaches to integrate Er-doped materials in siloxane polymer are investigated: (i) ultrafast laser plasma implantation of Er-doped glasses and (ii) solution-based dispersion of Er-doped nanoparticles. Experimental and simulation results on the achievable performance from such waveguide amplifiers are presented focusing on impact of the waveguide loss and upconversion on the gain figure.The authors would like to acknowledge Dow Corning for the provision of the polymer samples and the UK EPSRC for supporting this work through the Seamatics research grant (EP/M015165/1) and IPES CDT (EP/L015455/1)