Light emission from thulium silicates and oxides for optical amplifiers on silicon in the extended optical communications band

Films composed of Tm2Si2O7 and Tm2O3 grains formed on SiO2/Si substrates by radio magnetic sputtering and subsequent thermal annealing up to 1250 °C were characterized by synchrotron grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, cross-sectional transmission microscopy, and micro photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The films composed of triclinic (type-B) and monoclinic (type-C) Tm2Si2O7 grains on SiO2/Si and Tm2O3 grains on Si exhibit photoluminescence at the wavelength of about 1620 nm for the silicates and 1630 nm for the oxide, which indicates that they have good potential as light amplifiers on Si in the L and U bands at telecommunications wavelengths.