Doping silica beyond limits with laser plasma for active photonic materials

The limited solubility of rare-earths in silica hampers the

development of loss-compensated photonic integrated circuits. We report a novel method using femtosecond laser plasma assisted hybrid material integration of rare-earth-doped tellurite with silica, achieving high doping concentration of Er3+ and Yb3+-ions, 1.63 × 1021 atoms.cm−3,without segregation validated by Er3+:4I13/2 lifetime of 9.1 ms. The sequential ablation of two individual rare-earth (Er3+/Yb3+) doped-tellurite glass targets produces an exceptional intermixing of Er3+ and Yb3+-ions extending to the pristine silica with sharp interface. Formation of such homogeneous glass structure with Er3+-Yb3+-ions in a matrix of silica is not possible to realise by conventional methods.