Work

Fiber-to-fiber gain in Nd-doped aluminium oxide waveguide amplifiers

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Fiber-to-fiber gain is demonstrated in waveguide amplifiers fabricated from Al 2 O 3 :Nd 3+ films. The Nd-doped aluminium oxide film is deposited using reactive sputtering, resulting in a polycrystalline film with an approximate ion concentration of 2.2 × 10 20 ions/cm 3 . An amplifier with a length of 5.5 cm is optically pumped at 805 nm, following a bi-directional pumping scheme. For an incident signal input power of -14.9 dBm, the amplifier shows an external gain at a signal wavelength of 1064 nm as large as 14.5 dB, limited by the available pump power. Under those conditions, a noise figure of 8.5 dB was measured. These results pave the way towards on-chip amplification for applications including biomedical imaging, spectroscopy, atmospheric LiDAR, and quantum technologies.

Source: Optics Express

DOI: 10.1364/oe.582572

Authors: B. Jongebloed, C. E. Osornio-Martinez, K. Wang, M. Dijkstra, S. M. García-Blanco

Language: English

Topic: Solid State Laser Technologies

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,270

Funders: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, HORIZON EUROPE European Innovation Council

Award: Aluminium oxide integrated photonic platform for applications in the ultraviolet (UV)