Erbium-doped GaN optical amplifiers operating at 1.54 μm

Strip optical waveguides based on erbium (Er)-doped AlGaN/GaN:Er/AlGaN heterostructures have been fabricated and characterized in the optical communication wavelength window near 1.54 mu m. The propagation loss of these waveguide amplifiers have been measured at 1.54 mu m and found to be 3.5 cm(-1). Moreover, the optical amplification properties of the waveguides were measured using a signal input at 1.54 mu m and a broadband GaN light-emitting diode at 365 nm as pump source. A relative signal enhancement of similar to 8 cm(-1) was observed. The implications of such devices in photonic integrated circuits for optical communications are discussed. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3224203]