Integration of Mid-IR lasers and Si photonics circuits
Résumé
The direct epitaxy of III-V lasers on Silicon (Si) substrates has been considered for decades as an important objective for the realization of integrated photonics chips. Major progress has been achieved recently thanks to the understanding of the defect generation mechanisms, and systematic studies of their suppression [1, 2], or at least the drastic reduction of their density into the active region of the device.
In this presentation, we will discuss the challenges related to the growth of III-Vs on Si and present the current state-of-the-art of mid-IR lasers grown on Si [3].
In addition, we will present recent advances in the epitaxial integration of DLs on patterned Si photonics wafer equipped with SiN waveguides. Growth and device fabrication challenges arising from the template architecture were overcome to obtain DLs butt-coupled to the passive waveguides. We demonstrate several mW outpower of emitted light in continuous wave operation at room temperature from the DL grown on the patterned Si photonic wafer [4]. In addition, we will show that, in our configuration, around 10% of the laser light is coupled into the passive SiN waveguides, in good agreement with theoretical calculations [4].
These results open the route to active photonic integrated circuits operating in the mid-infrared for sensing applications.
Part of this work was sponsored by the French program on “Investments for the Future” (EquipEx EXTRA, ANR-11-EQPX-0016), the French ANR (ANR-19-CE24-0002) and the H2020 program of the European Union (REDFINCH, GA 780240 ; OPTAPHI, GA 860808).
[1] M. Rio-Calvo et al., Adv. Electron. Mater. 8, 202100777 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202100777
[2] A. Gilbert et al., Adv. Opt. Mater. 11(15), 2203050 (2023). doi: 10.1002/adom.202203050.
[3] For a review see E. Tournié et al., Light: Science & Applications 11, 165 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-00850-4
[4] A. Remis et al., Light: Science & Applications 12, 150 (2023). doi: 10.1038/s41377-023-01185-4