Electrical pump & probe and injected carrier losses quantification in Er doped Si slot waveguides

Opt Express. 2012 Dec 17;20(27):28808-18. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.028808.

Abstract

Electrically driven Er(3+) doped Si slot waveguides emitting at 1530 nm are demonstrated. Two different Er(3+) doped active layers were fabricated in the slot region: a pure SiO(2) and a Si-rich oxide. Pulsed polarization driving of the waveguides was used to characterize the time response of the electroluminescence (EL) and of the signal probe transmission in 1 mm long waveguides. Injected carrier absorption losses modulate the EL signal and, since the carrier lifetime is much smaller than that of Er(3+) ions, a sharp EL peak was observed when the polarization was switched off. A time-resolved electrical pump & probe measurement in combination with lock-in amplifier techniques allowed to quantify the injected carrier absorption losses. We found an extinction ratio of 6 dB, passive propagation losses of about 4 dB/mm, and a spectral bandwidth > 25 nm at an effective d.c. power consumption of 120 μW. All these performances suggest the usage of these devices as electro-optical modulators.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Erbium / chemistry*
  • Refractometry / instrumentation*
  • Silicon / chemistry*
  • Surface Plasmon Resonance / instrumentation*

Substances

  • Erbium
  • Silicon