On-Chip Integrated Yb³⁺-Doped Waveguide Amplifiers on Thin Film Lithium Niobate

We report the fabrication and optical characterization of Yb³⁺-doped waveguide amplifiers (YDWA) on the thin film lithium niobate fabricated by photolithography assisted chemo-mechanical etching. The fabricated Yb³⁺-doped lithium niobate waveguides demonstrates low propagation loss of 0.13 dB/cm at 1030 nm and 0.1 dB/cm at 1060 nm. The internal net gain of 5 dB at 1030 nm and 8 dB at 1060 nm are measured on a 4.0 cm long waveguide pumped by 976 nm laser diodes, indicating the gain per unit length of 1.25 dB/cm at 1030 nm and 2 dB/cm at 1060 nm, respectively. The integrated Yb³⁺-doped lithium niobate waveguide amplifiers will benefit the development of a powerful gain platform and are expected to contribute to the high-density integration of thin film lithium niobate based photonic chip.