On-chip ytterbium-doped lithium niobate microdisk lasers with high conversion efficiency

Area of Science:

• Integrated optics
• Materials science
• Laser physics

Background:

• Lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) integrated optical systems are of significant research interest.
• Previous erbium-doped LNOI lasers operated at 1550 nm with lower conversion efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel LNOI laser operating in the 1060 nm band.
• To improve conversion efficiency in rare-earth-doped LNOI lasers.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a high Q factor ytterbium-doped LNOI microdisk cavity.
• Characterization of laser performance, including threshold and conversion efficiency.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated an LNOI laser operating at 1060 nm.
• Achieved a threshold of 21.19 µW and a conversion efficiency of 1.36%.
• The conversion efficiency is the highest reported for rare-earth-doped LNOI lasers.

Conclusions:

• This work extends the operating wavelength band for LNOI lasers.
• The results highlight the potential for developing high-power LNOI laser devices.