Erbium chloride silicate-based vertical cavity surface-emitting laser at the near-infrared communication band

Abstract

Silicon-based integrated optoelectronics has become a hotspot in the field of computers and information processing systems. An integrated coherent light source on-chip with a small footprint and high efficiency is one of the most important unresolved devices. Here, we realize a silicon-based vertical cavity surface-emitting laser in the near-infrared communication band by making efforts in both controlled preparation of high-gain erbium silicate materials and novel design of high optical feedback microcavity. Single-crystal erbium/ytterbium silicate microplates with erbium concentration as high as 5 × 1021 cm−3 are controlled prepared by a chemical vapor deposition method. They can produce strong luminescence with quite a long lifetime (2.3 ms) at the wavelength of 1.5 μm. By embedding the erbium silicate microplates between two dielectric Bragg reflectors, we construct a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser at 1.5 μm, with a lasing threshold as low as 20 μJ/cm2 and Q factor of nearly 2000. Our study provides a new pathway to achieve a sub-micrometer coherent light source for optical communication.

On‐Chip Multiwavelength Single‐Mode Lasers with CdSe Nanoribbons‐Embedded Microcavities

“…The lowest Q is also basically equivalent to that reported in the literature. [ 46,47 ] Since the nanolaser chip possesses both multiwavelength and pure single mode, it can act as both a light source and a wavelength division component, which play an important role in the field of miniature spectrometers without wavelength division component.…”

Enhanced luminescence of erbium silicate: interstitial lithium directly regulates the lattice structure of erbium compound crystals

“…For increasing the concentration of erbium ions in erbium compound crystals ( e.g. erbium silicate (Er 2 Si 2 O 7 ), 24,25 erbium chloride silicate (Er 3 Cl(SiO 4 ) 2 )) 26,27 has two orders of magnitude higher concentration compared with that in erbium-doped materials. The concentration of erbium ions in erbium silicate can be up to ∼10 22 cm −3 , and erbium ions are all active at the crystal lattice sites without segregation.…”