High-gain optical amplification and lasing from erbium-doped single-crystal films epitaxially grown on silicon

Abstract

On-chip erbium-doped optical amplifiers and lasers are essential for realizing fully integrated active silicon photonic circuits, but their performance has been limited by the low gain of amorphous host materials and the difficulty of direct integration on silicon. Here, we demonstrate optical amplification and lasing from erbium-doped single-crystal gadolinium oxide (Er:Gd$_2$O$_3$) thin films epitaxially grown on silicon. Optical gain measurements on waveguides fabricated on this platform exhibit a giant material gain of $78.3\pm2.1$ dB/cm and an on-chip net gain exceeding 13 dB in a 6-mm-long waveguide at 2.3 K, while a measurable gain is maintained up to room temperature. Continuous-wave lasing with low threshold, narrow linewidth, and large side-mode suppression ratio is also demonstrated in Er:Gd$_2$O$_3$ microring resonators. These results establish Er:Gd$_2$O$_3$ as the first monolithic crystalline gain medium directly integrated on silicon, providing a scalable route toward high-performance cryogenic and quantum photonic integrated circuits.