Integrated ytterbium-doped lithium niobate microring lasers

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Materials Science
• Laser Technology

Background:

• Integrated and stable microlasers are crucial for advancing micro-photonics.
• Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) is a key material for photonic devices due to its unique properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To realize a monolithic ytterbium-doped lithium niobate microring laser.
• To evaluate its performance characteristics, including threshold and output power.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a microring resonator on a lithium niobate thin film.
• Doping the lithium niobate with ytterbium (Yb3+) ions.
• Pumping the device with a 980-nm-band laser to achieve lasing at 1060 nm.

Main Results:

• Successful operation of a monolithic ytterbium-doped lithium niobate microring laser.
• Achieved a low threshold power of 59.32 µW.
• Obtained a relatively high output power of 6.44 µW.
• Demonstrated state-of-the-art performance for rare-earth-doped LiNbO3 thin-film lasers.

Conclusions:

• The developed microring laser exhibits desirable performance metrics.
• The monolithic design offers attractive scalability for micro-photonics.
• Potential applications in lithium niobate photonics are significant.