Erbium and silicon nanocrystals for light amplification

Integrated EDWAs (Erbium-Doped Waveguide Amplifiers) are fundamental elements in planar photonic circuits: many efforts are being focused in making them as compact and cheap as possible. The use of broadband efficient sensitizers for Er3+ ions relaxes the expensive conditions needed for the pump source and raises the performances of the optical amplifier. Within this context, Si nanoclusters (Si-nc) in silica matrices have showed many properties that make them optimum sensitizers.