Guided photoluminescence study of Nd-doped silicon rich silicon oxide and silicon rich silicon nitride waveguides

Planar waveguides made of Nd3+-doped silicon rich silicon oxide (SRSO) and silicon rich silicon nitride (SRSN) have been fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering and characterized with special emphasis on the comparison of the guided photoluminescence (PL) properties of these two matrices. Guided fluorescence excited by top surface pumping at 488 nm on planar waveguides was measured as a function of the distance between the excitation area and the output of the waveguide, as well as a function of the pump power density. The PL intensity increased linearly with pump power without any saturation even at high power. The linear intensity increase of the Nd3+ guided PL under a non-resonant excitation (488 nm) confirms the efficient coupling between either Si-np and rare-earth ions for SRSO or radiative defects and rare earth ions for SRSN. The guided fluorescences at 945 and 1100 nm were observed until 4 mm and 8 mm of the output of the waveguide for Nd3+ doped SRSO and SRSN waveguides, respectively. The guided fluorescence decays of Nd3+-doped-SRSO and -SRSN planar waveguides have been measured and found equal to 97 mu s +/- 7 and 5 mu s +/- 2, respectively. These results show notably that the Nd3+-doped silicon rich silicon oxide is a very promising candidate on the way to achieve a laser cavity at 1.06 mu m. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.