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Physical Review Letters

Controlled atomic spontaneous emission from Er3+ in a transparent Si/ SiO2 microcavity

Arjen M. Vredenberg, N. E. J. Hunt, E. Fred Schubert, Dale C. Jacobson, John M. Poate, GEORGE JOHN ZYDZIK

Published Jul 26, 1993• 186 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The spontaneous emission lifetime and intensity of Er implanted into ${\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}$ is modified by a Si/${\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}$ planar microcavity. The cavity strongly affects the coupling of the optically excited ${\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}$ to the radiative and waveguiding modes of the system, resulting in a spontaneous lifetime of 14.8 ms for a cavity off-resonance with the ${\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}$ versus a lifetime of 9.1 ms for an on-resonance cavity. The observed spontaneous emission lifetime changes agree well with calculated values based on a computation method which is also presented.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.71.517

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Technical Physics Letters•Nov 1, 2007•4 citations
The spontaneous emission lifetime and intensity of Er implanted into SiO2{\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}SiO2​ is modified by a Si/SiO2{\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}SiO2​ planar microcavity. The cavity strongly affects the coupling of the optically excited Er3+{\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}Er3+ to the radiative and waveguiding modes of the system, resulting in a spontaneous lifetime of 14.8 ms for a cavity off-resonance with the Er3+{\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}Er3+ versus a lifetime of 9.1 ms for an on-resonance cavity. The observed spontaneous emission lifetime changes agree well with calculated values based on a computation method which is also presented.
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.
Angular spontaneous emission rates and lifetimes of Er3+ in Si/SiO2 microcavities are calculated for cavity lengths close to full and half-wavelengths. For a half-wavelength cavity, the calculations show that the spontaneous lifetime is sensitive to the variation of cavity length, and agrees very well with the experimental data measured by Vredenberg, Hunt, Schubert, Jacobson, Poate, and Zydzik [Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 517 (1993)]. This variation comes from a coupling rate change into the cavity normal. For a full wavelength cavity, the lifetime is less sensitive to cavity length due to strong coupling of spontaneous emission to a fundamental waveguide mode.
Er 3+ ions produce a sharp line emission that has small absorption cross section, long radiative lifetime, and is independent of external perturbations. These optical properties of the Er3+ ions limit the pumping efficiency and tunability of the emission line. In this work we present a study in which Er3+ emission was modified by coupling an ensemble of Er3+ ions to a microcavity resonance. The optical response of an optical cavity that consists of an Er2O3 layer confined between Si/SiO2 distributed Bragg reflectors is studied. When the cavity is in resonance with the optical transition of the Er3+ ions, the resonances in the reflectivity spectra split. The results are explained by a standard semiclassical model of atom–photon coupling.
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.
Spontaneous emission of erbium atoms implanted in various planar multidielectric stacks is investigated. Computational and experimental analyses are performed so as to assess the amount of light leaking into the radiative and the guided modes of the structures. The key point is the demonstration of the dominant emission into the guided modes, even though the atoms are implanted in the spacer of a resonant microcavity structure. The result is of practical interest since it challenges the conventional idea about the electromagnetic confinement, which is likely to be reached within planar microcavities.
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.