Monolithic InGaAs Nanowire Array Lasers on Silicon-on-Insulator Operating at Room Temperature

Abstract

Chip-scale integrated light sources are a crucial component in a broad range of photonics applications. III-V semiconductor nanowire emitters have gained attention as a fascinating approach due to their superior material properties 1,2 , extremely compact size 3 , and the capability to grow directly on lattice-mismatched silicon substrates 4,5 . Although there have been remarkable advances in nanowire-based emitters 6-8 , their practical applications are still in the early stages due to the difficulties in integrating nanowire emitters with photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Here, we demonstrate for the first time optically pumped III-V nanowire array lasers monolithically integrated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Selective-area growth of purely single-crystalline InGaAs/InGaP core/shell nanowires on an SOI substrate enables the nanowire array to form a photonic crystal nanobeam cavity with superior optical and structural properties, resulting in the laser to operate at room temperature. We also show that the nanowire array lasers are effectively coupled with SOI waveguides by employing nanoepitaxy on a pre-patterned SOI platform. These results represent a new platform for ultra-compact and energy-efficient optical links, and unambiguously point the way toward practical and functional nanowire lasers.Integrating III-V semiconductors on a silicon platform has been widely studied to achieve highperformance and energy-efficient lasers since the demonstration of hybrid III-V/Si lasers. Flip-chip

The Emergence of Silicon Photonics as a Flexible Technology Platform

“…Another promising approach in monolithic integration is based on direct growth of III/V nanowires on SOI platform forming a photonic crystal cavity [213], [214]. This approach does not require growth of any buffer layer and allows fabrication of small-footprint lasers with a high Q-factor.…”

Brief Review of Epitaxy and Emission Properties of GaSb and Related Semiconductors

“…Among these structures, because of their outstanding potential for use in the fabrication of high-performance nano-optoelectronic devices, III-V semiconductor NWs have attracted considerable research attention. For laser applications, the NW provides two of the required components for lasing, that is, the gain medium and the cavity, and thus is a suitable material for use in photonic laser applications [60]. Recently, lasing has been realized at room temperature in core-shell GaAs/AlGaAs NWs [61].…”

Room‐Temperature InGaAs Nanowire Array Band‐Edge Lasers on Patterned Silicon‐on‐Insulator Platforms

“…In ultracompact lasers, spontaneous emission factor, β , which represents the portion of spontaneously emitted photons coupled to the lasing mode, is one of the important parameters to investigate the nature of thresholdless lasers and is typically larger than conventional lasers. We have extracted β and Q factor of the fabricated laser by fitting the measured light‐light curve with rate equations which take into account optical pumping conditions . The rate equations and parameters used for the fitting are detailed in Experimental Section.…”

“…These nanowires are integrated on silicon grating structures of 220 nm‐thick silicon‐on‐insulator (SOI) substrates, which is a standard SOI thickness in photonic industries, and provides additional functionalities such as vertical confinement and waveguide coupling. Although lasing has been achieved from 2D nanowire arrays on planar SOI substrates and 1D nanowire arrays, experimental demonstration of 2D nanowire arrays on gratings is still yet to be achieved.…”