Electrically driven hybrid Si/III-V Fabry-Pérot lasers based on adiabatic mode transformers

Abstract

We report the first demonstration of an electrically driven hybrid silicon/III-V laser based on adiabatic mode transformers. The hybrid structure is formed by two vertically superimposed waveguides separated by a 100-nm-thick SiO2 layer. The top waveguide, fabricated in an InP/InGaAsP-based heterostructure, serves to provide optical gain. The bottom Si-waveguides system, which supports all optical functions, is constituted by two tapered rib-waveguides (mode transformers), two distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) and a surface-grating coupler. The supermodes of this hybrid structure are controlled by an appropriate design of the tapers located at the edges of the gain region. In the middle part of the device almost all the field resides in the III-V waveguide so that the optical mode experiences maximal gain, while in regions near the III-V facets, mode transformers ensure an efficient transfer of the power flow towards Si-waveguides. The investigated device operates under quasi-continuous wave regime. The room temperature threshold current is 100 mA, the side-mode suppression ratio is as high as 20 dB, and the fiber-coupled output power is ~7 mW.

High-Throughput Multiple Dies-to-Wafer Bonding Technology and III/V-on-Si Hybrid Lasers for Heterogeneous Integration of Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits

“…Subsequently, Fang et al (2006) demonstrated an electrically pumped AlGaInAssilicon evanescent laser with continuous-wave (CW) operation in 2006. Subsequently, various hybrid lasers with different structures and also enhanced laser performances are demonstrated by various research groups using molecular wafer bonding technology, including Fabry-Pérot lasers (FP) (Ben Bakir et al, 2011;Dong et al, 2013), racetrack lasers (Fang et al, 2007a,b), distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers (Fang et al, 2008a,b,c), distributed-feedback (DFB) lasers (Fang et al, 2008a,b,c), microring lasers (Liang et al, 2009a(Liang et al, ,b, 2012, wavelength tunable lasers (Keyvaninia et al, 2013a,b,c), multiple-wavelength lasers (Van Campenhout et al, 2008;Kurczveil et al, 2011), and mode-locked lasers (MLL) (Fang et al, 2008a,b,c).…”

Strategies to increase the modal gain in heterogeneously integrated III–V amplifiers on silicon-on-insulator

“…Furthermore, the active region is placed as close as possible to the interface with the DVS-BCB layer, to maximize the interaction with possible silicon structures below the III-V waveguide. This simplifies the coupling of the fundamental TE-mode to an underlying silicon waveguide [Ben Bakir et al, 2011] and in case of a laser allows for an adequate interaction with a distributed bragg reflector fabricated in the silicon waveguide layer [Roelkens et al, 2011]. To find the optimal waveguide shape with a single QW, the structure is simulated n-InP and optimized to achieve a maximal net gain by varying the OCL and top p-InP contact layer thicknesses.…”

Hybrid single quantum well InP/Si nanobeam lasers for silicon photonics

“…However, the capability of generating light on silicon has been one of the daunting problems to overcome owing to its indirect electronic bandgap [9]. Faced with this long-standing issue, several research groups have proposed heterogeneous integration of III-V quantum well (QW) materials on top of silicon structures to generate light at the telecommunication wavelengths [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].In this Letter, we demonstrate a novel low threshold and optically pumped single QW nanobeam laser, defined by means of a heterogeneous integration of an InP layer (with a single InAs 0.65 P 0.35 QW embedded) on silicon-on-insulator.First, we focused on the design of the heterogeneous InP/Si nanobeam cavity and pursued a high Q-factor in an attempt to reduce the lasing threshold. Simulations were made using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) models, where the well-known techniques to design 1D photonics crystal nanobeam cavities with the desired figures of merits were employed [16][17][18][19].…”

“…Faced with this long-standing issue, several research groups have proposed heterogeneous integration of III-V quantum well (QW) materials on top of silicon structures to generate light at the telecommunication wavelengths [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”