Ytterbium-implanted photonic resonators based on thin film lithium niobate

Abstract

We introduce our design, simulation, and fabrication for cm-long waveguides and micro-ring resonators based on fully-etched thin-film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) incorporated with rare earth ions. We implant ytterbium ions (Yb3+) into the crystalline host and study their optical properties at 4 K temperature. We measure an intrinsic optical quality factor of higher than 2×106 after postimplantation annealing. We characterize the photoluminescence spectrum, lifetime, and absorption of Yb3+ ions. Incorporation of rare earth ions into LNOI as a crystalline and nonlinear photonic element may enable the development of multi-functional quantum photonic devices capable of generating, transducing, manipulating, and storing of quantum optical information.

Microdisk lasers on an erbium-doped lithium-niobite chip

“…Some efforts have been made to study LNOI devices doped with rare-earth ions. The optical properties of Er 3+ -, Tm 3+ -, and Yb 3+ -doped LNOI have been investigated [24][25][26]. However, due to the limitation of the concentration of ion implantation or the low quality of the integrated devices, lasers on LNOI chips are in short supply.…”

Lithium Niobate on Insulator: An Emerging Platform for Integrated Quantum Photonics

“…However, such centers could be created by selective doping of the LN host material. Doping of LNOI has been demonstrated with Tm, [118] Er, [119][120][121][122][123][124] and Yb ions, [125,126] which were used to demonstrate photoluminescence, amplification, and lasing. Semiconductor quantum dots can be added to the LNOI platform by hybridization, where a semiconductor structure containing a quantum dot is coupled to a waveguide in LNOI by specifically designed tapers.…”

Microresonators in Lithium Niobate Thin Films

“…To date, several groups in the world have already invested the qualities of rare earth-implanted LN microresonators. [151][152][153][154][155][156][157] For lacking of enough ion implantation concentration, the early experiments focused on the non-resonant fluorescence without laser output at cryogenic temperature, even the Q-factor being already above 10 5 (Figure 13a). [151,154] Among all the rare-earth ions, Er 3+ is the most prevalent option as its optical transition lies in telecom band.…”

“…[151][152][153][154][155][156][157] For lacking of enough ion implantation concentration, the early experiments focused on the non-resonant fluorescence without laser output at cryogenic temperature, even the Q-factor being already above 10 5 (Figure 13a). [151,154] Among all the rare-earth ions, Er 3+ is the most prevalent option as its optical transition lies in telecom band. Microlaser on erbium-doped LN thin film microresonators was achieved by three groups.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [151] Copyright 2020, American Institute of Physics. b) The lasing signal intensity versus pumping power, giving the threshold of 292 µW and the conversion efficiency of 6.5 10 % 5 × − .…”