Ion-beam deposited, gain enhanced ring resonators

TLDR: In this paper, an optical waveguide is created using the process of ion beam deposition resulting in a waveguide with low propagation loss, mode discrimination, and gain characteristics, which is made up of a multilayer stack which is deposited upon a thermally stable substrate, wherein the multillayer stack comprises alternating layers of a first material and a second material.

Abstract: An optical waveguide is created using the process of ion beam deposition resulting in a waveguide with low propagation loss, mode discrimination, and gain characteristics. The waveguide is made up of a multilayer stack which is deposited upon a thermally stable substrate, wherein the multilayer stack comprises alternating layers of a first material and a second material. The layers of second material are doped with a rare earth material. By pumping the waveguide with a pump light source, interaction between the pump light and the rare earth material within the waveguide causes amplification or gain of a first optical signal. Ion beam deposition is used to fabricate the waveguide, therefore production of a high quality rare earth doped waveguide is possible. Furthermore, the waveguide is made using batch processing thus reducing costs.