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

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 20; no. 27; pp. 28808 - 28818
• Main Authors: Ramírez, J M, Berencén, Y, Ferrarese Lupi, F, Navarro-Urrios, D, Anopchenko, A, Tengattini, A, Prtljaga, N, Pavesi, L, Rivallin, P, Fedeli, J M, Garrido, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Optical Society of America 17.12.2012
• Subjects: Electromagnetic Fields; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Erbium - chemistry; Refractometry - instrumentation; Silicon - chemistry; Surface Plasmon Resonance - instrumentation
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.20.028808

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.