Abstract-The high index contrast silicon-on-insulator platform is the dominant CMOS 1 compatible platform for photonic integration. The successful use of silicon photonic chips in optical communication applications has now paved the way for new areas where photonic chips can be applied. It is already emerging as a competing technology for sensing and spectroscopic applications. This increasing range of applications for silicon photonics instigates an interest in exploring new materials, as silicon-oninsulator has some drawbacks for these emerging applications, e.g. silicon is not transparent in the visible wavelength range. Silicon nitride is an alternate material platform. It has moderately high index contrast, and like silicon-on-insulator, it uses CMOS processes to manufacture photonic integrated circuits. In this paper, the advantages and challenges associated with these two material platforms are discussed. The case of dispersive spectrometers, which are widely used in various silicon photonic applications, is presented for these two material platforms.

Abstract:In the paper, we review our work on heterogeneous III-V-on-silicon photonic components and circuits for applications in optical communication and sensing. We elaborate on the integration strategy and describe a broad range of devices realized on this platform covering a wavelength range from 850 nm to 3.85 μm.

We present the design of two novel adiabatic tapered coupling structures that allow efficient and alignment tolerant mode conversion between a III-V membrane waveguide and a single-mode SOI waveguide in active heterogeneously integrated devices. Both proposed couplers employ a broad intermediate waveguide to facilitate highly alignment tolerant coupling. This robustness is needed to comply with the current misalignment tolerance requirements for high-throughput transfer printing. The proposed coupling structures are expected to pave the way for transfer-printing-based heterogeneous integration of active III-V devices such as semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), photodetectors, electro-absorption modulators (EAMs) and single wavelength lasers on silicon photonic integrated circuits. 11. E. Menard, K. Lee, D.-Y. Khang, R. Nuzzo, and J. Rogers, "A printable form of silicon for high performance thin film transistors on plastic substrates," Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 5398-5400 (2004).

A heterogeneously integrated widely tunable III-V-on-silicon ring laser with unidirectional operation is demonstrated. 40 nm tuning range (from 1560 nm to 1600 nm) is obtained using the Vernier effect between two ring resonators incorporated in the ring laser cavity. Unidirectional operation is obtained by integrating a DBR reflector coupling the clockwise and counterclockwise mode of the ring laser cavity. Unidirectional operation is obtained over the entire tuning range with about 10 dB suppression of the clockwise mode. The laser linewidth is lower than 1 MHz over the entire tuning range, down to 550 kHz in the optimum operation point. The waveguide coupled output power is above 0dBm over the entire tuning range.

An electronically tunable distributed feedback (DFB) laser heterogeneously integrated on a silicon photonics platform is experimentally demonstrated. Tuning is achieved through carrier injection into the tuning layer of a tunable twin‐guide III–V membrane on silicon. A 2 nm continuous tuning range is achieved with a single tuning current. Continuous‐wave single‐mode laser operation with a side‐mode suppression ratio larger than 44 dB across the tuning range is obtained. Measured wavelength switching times are on the order of 3 ns and non‐return‐to‐zero on‐off keying direct modulation at 12.5 Gbit s−1 is readily achieved. This work can be a major advance toward the realization of optical burst or packet switching systems for future data center networks.

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Abstract:A heterogeneously integrated InP-on-silicon fast tunable filtered feedback laser is demonstrated. The laser device consists of a main Fabry-Pérot cavity connected to an integrated arrayed waveguide grating of which the outputs form external cavities in which semiconductor optical amplifiers can be switched to provide single-mode operation and tunability. The laser can operate at four different wavelengths whereby switching between each wavelength channel is done within one nanosecond. For each wavelength channel 12.5 Gbit/s NRZ-OOK direct modulation is demonstrated. The combination of fast wavelength switching with straightforward wavelength control and high-speed direct modulation characteristics make the demonstrated laser structure very attractive for use in optical packet or burst switching systems.

Analog radio-over-fiber transceivers allow a substantial reduction in the complexity of the remote radio heads in the wireless network of the future. In this paper we discuss the building blocks for such a transceiver implemented on a silicon photonics platform, with the heterogeneous integration of III-V devices and the co-integration with electronics. Transmission experiments that demonstrate the viability of such integrated analog transceivers are described.