Erbium-doped polymer waveguide amplifiers for PCB-integrated optical links

Marcin Ziarko, Nikos Bamiedakis, Eric Kumi-Barimah, Gin Jose, Richard V. Penty, Ian H. White

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter in a published conference proceeding

3 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Optical technologies are increasingly considered for use in high-performance electronic systems to overcome the performance bottleneck of electrical interconnects when operating at high frequencies and provide high-speed communication between electronic chips and modules. Polymer waveguides are leading candidates for implementing board-level optical interconnections as they exhibit favourable mechanical, thermal and optical properties for direct integration onto conventional printed circuit boards (PCBs). Numerous system demonstrators have been reported in recent years featuring different types of polymer materials and opto-electronic (OE) PCB designs. However, all demonstrated polymer-based interconnection technologies are currently passive, which limits the length of the on-board links and the number of components that can be connected in optical bus architectures. In this paper therefore, we present work towards the formation of low-cost optical waveguide amplifiers that can be readily integrated onto standard PCBs by combining two promising optical technologies: siloxane-based polymers and ultra-fast laser plasma implantation (ULPI). Siloxane-based waveguides exhibit high-temperature resistance in excess of 300°C and low loss at different wavelength ranges, while ULPI has been demonstrated to produce very high dopant concentrations in glass thin films with values of 1.63×1021 cm-3 recently reported in Er-doped silica layers. Here we present detailed simulation studies that demonstrate the potential to achieve a internal gain of up to 8 dB/cm from such structures and report on initial experimental work on Er-doped films and waveguides demonstrating photoluminescence and good lifetimes.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOptical Interconnects XIX
EditorsHenning Schroder, Ray T. Chen
PublisherSPIE
Volume10924
ISBN (Electronic)9781510624900
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Mar 2019
EventOptical Interconnects XIX 2019 - San Francisco, USA United States
Duration: 5 Feb 20197 Feb 2019

Publication series

NameOptical Interconnects Conference
PublisherSPIE
ISSN (Print)2376-8665

Conference

ConferenceOptical Interconnects XIX 2019
Country/TerritoryUSA United States
CitySan Francisco
Period5/02/197/02/19

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge Dow Corning for the provision of the polymer samples and the UK EPSRC for supporting this work through the SeaMatics research grant (EP/M015165/1) and IPES CDT (EP/L015455/1).

Keywords

  • EDWA
  • Erbium
  • Optical interconnects
  • Plasma implantation
  • Polymer

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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