1.55 μm hybrid waveguide laser made by ion-exchange and wafer bonding

Marco Casale, Davide Bucci, Lionel Bastard, Jean-Emmanuel Broquin, Jean Emmanuel Broquin, Gualtiero Nunzi Conti
2012 Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XVI  
Distributed Feed Back (DFB) lasers working in the third telecom window are essential for optical communications, eyesafe sensors and lab-on-chip devices. Glass integrated optics technology allows realizing such devices by using rareearth doped substrates. Despite their good output power and spectral characteristic, DFB lasers still present some reliability issues concerning the Bragg grating protection. Moreover Erbium doped glasses are not compatible with the realization of passive optical
more » ... tions. In order to solve the DFB lasers reliability issues and to ensure a monolithic integration between active and passive functions, we propose an hybrid-device architecture based on ion-exchange technology and wafer bonding. The Ag + /Na + ion-exchange in the silicate glass wafer is used to realize the passive functions and the lateral confinement of the electromagnetic field. Through a second ion exchange step, a slab waveguide is made on the Erbium-Ytterbium doped glass wafer. The Bragg grating is processed on the passive substrate and the two glasses are bonded. The potential of this structure has been demonstrated through the realization of a DFB hybrid laser with a fully encapsulated Bragg grating.
doi:10.1117/12.909880 fatcat:wmotu4wir5d5ldfvjg5vyvbjlq