Facilities

A ring isolator is demonstrated for the first time by directly bonding a cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Ce:YIG) onto a silicon ring resonator using oxygen plasma enhanced bonding. The silicon waveguide is 600 nm wide and 295 nm thick with 500-nm-thick Ce:YIG on the top to have reasonable nonreciprocal effect and low optical loss. With a radial magnetic field applied to the ring isolator, it exhibits 9-dB isolation at resonance in the 1550 nm wavelength regime.

We numerically investigate the potential of Al2O3:Er3+ active slot waveguides for realizing small-form factor lasers on silicon on insulator at 2.8um. Based on recent technological improvements in the reliable and low-cost fabrication of alumina doped with high Er3+ concentration and exploiting the extremely high field intensity achievable in optimized active slot waveguides, we point out the possibility of realizing silicon-compatible emitters at 2.8um, optically pumped at 1480 nm with a few milliwatts threshold pump power.