Optical Gain in Erbium Lithium Niobate Titanium Diffused Waveguides

In this effort, we describe our recent progress towards demonstrating optical gain in erbium-doped lithium niobate and its potential for use in Erbium-Doped Waveguide Amplifiers (EDWAs) and lasers. By introducing erbium into lithium niobate, we have the potential for both gain at telecom wavelengths and electro-optic modulation in a single material. This has many possible applications, including high speed, narrow band tunable lasers for RF generation and other applications. We focus on lithium niobate grown in the presence of erbium available with a uniform doping profile from Roditi International. In this work we discuss photoluminescence, amplified spontaneous emission, gain, and lasing in titanium-indiffused waveguides.