8×40 Gbps WDM amplification in a monolithically integrated Al₂O₃:Er³⁺-Si₃N₄waveguide amplifier

On chip waveguide optical amplifiers have been extensively studied over the last years, with a wide variety of materials tested and proposed for different applications. Among the most prominent solutions for on-chip amplification, erbium doped waveguide amplifiers (EDWAs) are able to offer attractive performance metrics that can exceed SOA-based amplification solutions in traditional single and multi-channel systems. In this letter, we experimentally demonstrate a record high 8 × 40 Gbps non return to zero (NRZ) wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) data amplification through a 5.9 cm long on-chip amplifier consisting of an erbium-doped aluminum oxide spiral waveguide monolithically integrated on the Si3N4 platform. Experimental results show more than 12.7 dB amplification per channel for low saturation total input power of -2.75 dBm, and clear eye diagrams and bit-error rate values below the KR4-FEC limit of 2 × 10-5 for all eight channels without any digital signal processing (DSP) applied to the signal to the receiver or transmitter side. The high losses from the fiber to chip interfaces, however, prevented achieving device net gain.