Single crystalline Er2O3:sapphire films as potentially high-gain amplifiers at telecommunication wavelength

Single crystalline thin films of Er2O3, demonstrating efficient 1.5 μm luminescence of Er3+ at room temperature were grown on Al2O3 substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The absorption coefficient at 1.536 μm was found to reach 270 cm−1 translating in a maximal possible gain of 1390 dBcm−1. In conjunction with the 10% higher refractive index as compared to Al2O3, this opens the possibility to use Er2O3:sapphire films as short-length waveguide amplifiers in telecommunication.