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Technical Physics Letters

Effective optical excitation and resonant luminescence of erbium ions in the spectral region of eigenmodes of a planar microcavity

Alexander V. Medvedev, Alexander A. Dukin, Alexander B. Pevtsov, Concita Sibilia, Nikolai A. Feoktistov, Valery G. Golubev

Published Nov 1, 2007• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report a strong increase in the intensity of spontaneous emission from erbium ions embedded into an active layer of amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO x ) in a planar microcavity based on a-Si:H/a-SiO x layers. Using eigenmodes of this microcavity both for excitation (pumping) and for the extraction of photoluminescence, it is possible to increase the spontaneous emission intensity from erbium ions by a factor of about 500 as compared to the photoluminescence from a single doped a-SiO x (Er) film.

DOI
10.1134/s1063785007110259

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Results obtained in an experimental study of spontaneous emission from erbium ions in a spectral range corresponding to the lower photonic band edge of distributed Bragg reflectors (1D photonic crystals) are presented. The photonic crystals were constituted of alternating quarter-wave a -Si:H and a -SiO x :H layers grown by PECVD. Erbium was introduced into the a -Si:H layers by magnetron sputtering of an erbium target in the course of structure growth. The change observed in the intensity of spontaneous emission is due to the nonmonotonic behavior of the density of optical modes near the photonic band edge.

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We report a strong increase in the intensity of spontaneous emission from erbium ions embedded into an active layer of amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO x ) in a planar microcavity based on a-Si:H/a-SiO x layers. Using eigenmodes of this microcavity both for excitation (pumping) and for the extraction of photoluminescence, it is possible to increase the spontaneous emission intensity from erbium ions by a factor of about 500 as compared to the photoluminescence from a single doped a-SiO x (Er) film.
Since the advent of vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers, a renewed interest has also emerged for the spontaneous emission from Fabry-Pérot microcavities. Changes in spontaneous emission characteristics in a 1D microcavity were predicted long ago,1 but have been demonstrated only recently in the optical domain for solid-state, e.g. semiconductor, structures where changes in spectral purity, lifetime, and emission intensity were observed.2 However, the interpretation of these effects is somewhat obscure, because these structures are highly absorbing and often involve band-to-band, rather than atomic, transitions. In the present study, we use optically transparent Si/SiO2 cavities, consisting of two coplanar Si/SiO2 distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) around a (λ/2) SiO2 active region, which was doped with ~0.2 at.% Er3+ ions through MeV ion implantation. The Er3+ ions in SiO2 exhibit a sharp, atomic-like, intra-4f transition around λem=1.54 μm, which is effectively shielded by the outerlying filled 5s2 and 5p6 shells. Recently, we reported on the considerable enhancement of the spontaneous emission intensity out of such an Er-doped microcavity.3 In this paper, we present a more detailed study of the modified spontaneous emission, including fluorescence decay measurements to study the effect of the cavity on the spontaneous emission rate.
Erbium is a rare-earth metal that, when incorporated in a solid, can emit light at a wavelength of 1.5 μm. It plays a key role in current day telecommunication technology as the principle ingredient of optical fiber amplifiers. In this thesis the control of the Er spontaneous emission in three different types of microphotonic materials is described. Part I of this thesis focuses on the effect of a metallo-dielectric interface on the spontaneous emission of optical emitters in silica glass. It is shown that Er ions near a Ag interface can couple to surface plasmons (SPs) via a near-field interaction. By coupling SPs out into the far field, large changes in the Er photoluminescence emission distribution, spectra, and polarization can be observed. The excitation of SPs also results in an increase of the Er photoluminescence decay rate. The observed decay rates are in good agreement with calculations based on a classical dipole oscillator model. From the change in photoluminescence decay rate of Si nanocrystals near a Ag interface it is shown that Si nanocrystals can efficiently excite SPs and have an internal quantum efficiency of 77 %. Part II focuses on the effect of a microcavity on the spontaneous emission of Er and describes how ion implantation can be used to dope dielectric microresonators with optically active Er ions. The fabrication and characterization of an Er ion-implanted silica microsphere resonator is described that shows lasing at 1.5 μm when pumped above its lasing threshold. Ion implantation is also used to dope toroidal microcavities on a Si chip with Er. The microtoroids are doped by either pre-implantation into the SiO2 base material, or by post-implantation in a fully fabricated microtoroid. The optical activation of Er ions in the microtoroid is investigated and Er lasing at 1.5 μm is observed for both types of microcavities with the lowest threshold (4.5 μW) for the pre-implanted microtoroids. Part III describes the fabrication of an Er-doped Si-inverse opal photonic crystal. These photonic crystals can potentially have a photonic bandgap that can fully inhibit the spontaneous emission of on optical emitter. Fabrication criteria are derived for such a photonic crystal, based on the lattice parameter, filling fraction, and Si refractive index. In the opal photonic crystal composed of both Si and SiO2 we show that Er ions can be selectively excited in both the Si and SiO2 part of the photonic crystal by changing the excitation wavelength and/or the measurement temperature.
We investigate theoretically and experimentally the optical properties of planar Ta2O5/SiO2 multilayer structures implanted with rare earth ions such as erbium and praseodymium. We demonstrate that the spontaneous emission can be strongly enhanced in a direction normal to the layers if the luminescent ions are located in the spacer of a resonant Fabry-Perot type microcavity. Nevertheless, we show that a large amount of light is emitted into the guided modes of the planar stack reducing the optical confinement which is likely to be reached within this type of dielectric microcavities.
Dependences of the erbium photoluminescence intensity in Si:Er/Si structures have been studied in cases of homogeneous (over the sample surface) and inhomogeneous optical excitation. It is shown that the excitation mode strongly affects the type of the dependences obtained. A method for determining the excitation cross section of the Er ion under both continuous and pulsed optical pumping is discussed. The value obtained for the effective excitation cross section of erbium ions in silicon, σ = 5 × 10 −14 cm 2 at a temperature of 8 K, is an order of magnitude larger than the values known from published material.
We report experimental results from an erbium-doped gallium phosphide microdisk resonator pumped by a Ti-sapphire laser at 980 nm. Fabrication and characterization of the microdisk resonator are discussed. Enhanced Er+3 intra-4f-shell photoluminescence was observed in the microdisk resonator due to microcavity effect and compared to a thin film sample. At low pumping power intensity, the photoluminescence from erbium-doped gallium phosphide microdisks is an order stronger than that from a thin film sample.
Results obtained in an experimental study of spontaneous emission from erbium ions in a spectral range corresponding to the lower photonic band edge of distributed Bragg reflectors (1D photonic crystals) are presented. The photonic crystals were constituted of alternating quarter-wave a -Si:H and a -SiO x :H layers grown by PECVD. Erbium was introduced into the a -Si:H layers by magnetron sputtering of an erbium target in the course of structure growth. The change observed in the intensity of spontaneous emission is due to the nonmonotonic behavior of the density of optical modes near the photonic band edge.