SiO2/TiO2 distributed Bragg reflector near 1.5 μm fabricated by e-beam evaporation

The authors report on the fabrication and characterization of SiO2/TiO2 distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors operating at the eye safe and optical communication wavelength window, λ = 1.5 μm. Our experimental results demonstrated that SiO2/TiO2 DBR mirrors with reflectivity exceeding 95% at λ = 1.5 μm can be achieved using e-beam evaporation in conjunction with postdeposition thermal annealing process in ambient air. It was found that the postdeposition annealing process transformed the crystal structure of the as-deposited TixOy to TiO2, leading to a significant reduction in optical absorption. Erbium doped III-nitride semiconductors incorporating DBR mirrors at 1.5 μm emission may open up many novel applications, including infrared emitters, optical amplifiers, and high power infrared lasers.