We demonstrate 5 dB net gain in an erbium-doped tellurium-oxide-coated silicon nitride waveguide. The amplifier design leverages the high refractive index and high gain in erbium-doped tellurite glass as well as the ultra-low losses and mature, reliable, and low-cost fabrication methods of silicon nitride waveguide technology. We show that the waveguide platform demonstrates low background propagation losses of 0.25 dB/cm based on a ring resonator device with a
Q
factor of
1.3
×
10
6
at 1640 nm. We measure 5 dB peak net gain at 1558 nm and
>
3
dB
of net gain across the C band in a 6.7 cm long waveguide for 35 mW of launched 1470 nm pump power. Gain per unit length of 1.7 and 1.4 dB/cm is measured in a 2.2 cm long waveguide for 970 and 1470 nm pump wavelengths, respectively. Amplifier simulations predict that
>
10
dB
gain can be achieved across the C band simply by optimizing waveguide length and fiber-chip coupling. These results demonstrate a promising approach for the monolithic integration of compact erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers on silicon nitride chips and within silicon-based photonic integrated circuits.
Silicon photonics is coming of age; however, it is still lacking a monolithic platform for optical sources and nonlinear functionalities prompting heterogeneous integration of different materials tailored to different applications. Here we demonstrate tellurium oxide as a complementary metal oxide semiconductor silicon photonics platform for nonlinear functionalities, which is already becoming an established platform for sources and amplifiers. We show broadband supercontinuum generation covering the entire telecom window and show for the first time to our knowledge third-harmonic generation in its integrated embodiment. Together with the nowavailable lasers and amplifiers on integrated TeO 2 this work paves the way for a monolithic TeO 2-based nonlinear silicon photonics platform.
We report the first-time observation, to the best of our knowledge, of four-wave mixing (FWM) in hybrid tellurium oxide coated silicon nitride ring resonators with internal Q factors of 1.7 × 105 to 1.0 × 106. We show oscillation at NIR wavelengths ranging from 1020 nm to 2530 nm under 1590 nm pumping. The FWM process has been investigated for TeO2-coated Si3N4 ring resonators with a 600 µm radius and FWM is observed for threshold launched pump powers as low as 25 mW with normal group velocity dispersion (GVD). With the potential for engineering of the GVD to the anomalous regime, a phase-matched and more efficient FWM process can be realized, which can pave the way for broadband frequency comb generation in this platform. These results suggest further promise of higher performance and lower threshold power nonlinear devices on a low-loss CMOS compatible platform with the possibility of co-integration of active functionalities due to high solubility of rare earth dopants in tellurium oxide.
We propose designs of silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4) waveguides with enhanced nonlinear parameter and engineered anomalous group velocity dispersion (GVD) by addition of tellurium oxide (TeO 2) top-coating layers of various thicknesses. The proposed waveguides have calculated nonlinear parameters of up to three times that of stoichiometric Si 3 N 4 and exhibit anomalous GVD at near infrared wavelengths. The GVD of such waveguides can be tuned between the normal and anomalous regime with different zero dispersion wavelengths by adjusting the thickness of TeO 2 coating. These designs offer promise of higher performance nonlinear devices on a standard low-loss Si 3 N 4 platform with the possibility of integration of active functionalities owing to higher solubility of rare earth dopants in tellurium oxide.
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