Miniaturized integrated spectrometers will have unprecedented impact on applications ranging from unmanned aerial vehicles to mobile phones, and silicon photonics promises to deliver compact, cost-effective devices. Mirroring its ubiquitous free-space counterpart, a silicon photonics-based Fourier transform spectrometer (Si-FTS) can bring broadband operation and fine resolution to the chip scale. Here we present the modeling and experimental demonstration of a thermally tuned Si-FTS accounting for dispersion, thermo-optic non-linearity, and thermal expansion. We show how these effects modify the relation between the spectrum and interferogram of a light source and we develop a quantitative correction procedure through calibration with a tunable laser. We retrieve a broadband spectrum (7 THz around 193.4 THz with 0.38-THz resolution consuming 2.5 W per heater) and demonstrate the Si-FTS resilience to fabrication variations—a major advantage for large-scale manufacturing. Providing design flexibility and robustness, the Si-FTS is poised to become a fundamental building block for on-chip spectroscopy.

We present a formal treatment of the modification of spontaneous emission rate by a cavity (Purcell effect) in sub-wavelength semiconductor lasers. To explicitly express the assumptions upon which our formalism builds, we summarize the results of non-relativistic quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the emitter-field-reservoir model in the quantum theory of damping. Within this model, the emitter-field interaction is modified to the extent that the field mode is modified by its environment. We show that the Purcell factor expressions frequently encountered in the literature are recovered only in the hypothetical condition when the gain medium is replaced by a transparent medium. Further, we argue that to accurately evaluate the Purcell effect, both the passive cavity boundary and the collective effect of all emitters must be included as part of the mode environment.

A model for quantitative analysis of microdisk laser emission spectra is presented. Conformal mapping is used to determine radial and azimuthal eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and cavity Q corresponding to leaky optical resonances in an optically transparent dielectric disk. The effects of gain and loss in a microcavity active medium are also included in the model. Our results compare well with experimental data obtained from an InGaAs/InGaAsP quantum well microdisk laser of radius Rϭ0.8 m.

A proof-of-concept for a new and entirely CMOS compatible thermo-optic reconfigurable switch based on a coupled ring resonator structure is experimentally demonstrated in this paper. Preliminary results show that a single optical device is capable of combining several functionalities, such as tunable filtering, non-blocking switching and reconfigurability, in a single device with compact footprint (~50µm x 30µm).

Ge nanocrystallites (Ge-nc) embedded in a SiO(2) matrix are investigated using Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The samples were prepared by ion implantation with different implantation doses (0.5, 0.8, 1, 2, 3 and 4) × 10(16) cm(-2) using 250 keV energy. After implantation, the samples were annealed at 1000 °C in a forming gas atmosphere for 1 h. All samples show a broad Raman spectrum centred at w≈304 cm(-1) with a slight shift depending on the implantation doses. The Raman intensity also depends on the Ge(74+) dose. A maximum photoluminescence intensity is observed for the sample implanted at room temperature with a dose of 2 × 10(16) cm(-2) at 3.2 eV. Infrared spectroscopy shows that the SiO(2) films moved off stoichiometry due to Ge(74+) ion implantation, and Ge oxides are formed in it. This result is shown as a reduction of GeO(x) at exactly the dose corresponding to the maximum blue-violet PL emission and the largest Raman emission at 304 cm(-1). Finally, the Raman spectra were fitted with a theoretical expression to evaluate the average size, full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) and dispersion of Ge-nc size.