Direct epitaxial growth of III-V lasers on silicon provides the most economically favorable means of photonic integration but has traditionally been hindered by poor material quality. Relative to commercialized heterogeneous integration schemes, epitaxial growth reduces complexity and increases scalability by moving to 300 mm wafer diameters. The challenges associated with the crystalline mismatch between III-Vs and Si can be overcome through optimized buffer layers including thermal cyclic annealing and metamorphic layers, which we have utilized to achieve dislocation densities < 7×106 cm-2. By combining low defect densities with defect-tolerant quantum dot active regions, native substrate performance levels can be achieved. Narrow ridge devices with threshold current densities as low as ~130 A/cm2 have been demonstrated with virtually degradation free operation at 35°C over 11,000 h of continuous aging at twice the initial threshold current density (extrapolated time-to-failure >10,000,000 h). At 60°C, lasers with extrapolated time-to-failure >50,000 h have been demonstrated for >4,000 h of continuous aging. Lasers have also been investigated for their performance under optical feedback and showed no evidence of coherence collapse at back-reflection levels of 100% (minus 10% tap for measurement) due to the ultralow linewidth enhancement factor (αH < 0.2) and high damping of the optimized quantum dot active region.
A common way of extracting the chirp parameter (i.e., the α-factor) of semiconductor lasers is usually performed by extracting the net modal gain and the wavelength from the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectrum. Although this method is straightforward, it remains sensitive to the thermal effects hence leading to a clear underestimation of the α-factor. In this work, we investigate the chirp parameter of InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) lasers epitaxially grown on silicon with a measurement technique evaluating the gain and wavelength changes of the suppressed side modes by optical injection locking. Given that the method is thermally insensitive, the presented results confirm our initial measurements conducted with the ASE i.e. the α-factor of the QD lasers directly grown on silicon is as low as 0.15 hence resulting from the low threading dislocation density and high material gain of the active region. These conclusions make such lasers very promising for future integrated photonics where narrow linewidth, feedback resistant and low-chirp on-chip transmitters are required.
The integration of optical functions on a microelectronic chip brings many innovative perspectives, along with the possibility to enhance the performances of photonic integrated circuits (PIC). Owing to the delta-like density of states, quantum dot lasers (QD) directly grown on silicon are very promising for achieving low-cost transmitters with high thermal stability and large insensitivity to optical reflections. This paper investigates the dynamical and nonlinear properties of silicon based QD lasers through the prism of the linewidth broadening factor (i.e. the so-called α-factor) and the optical feedback dynamics. Results demonstrate that InAs/GaAs p-doped QD lasers epitaxially grown on silicon exhibit very low α-factors, which directly transform into an ultra-large resistance against optical feedback. As opposed to what is observed in heterogeneously integrated quantum well (QW) lasers, no chaotic state occurs owing to the high level of QD size uniformity resulting in a near zero α-factor. Considering these results, this study suggests that QD lasers made with direct epitaxial growth is a powerful solution for integration into silicon CMOS technology, which requires both high thermal stability and feedback resistant lasers.
Silicon photonics promises scalable manufacturing of integrated photonic devices through utilization of established CMOS processing techniques and facilities. Unfortunately, the silicon photonics platform lacks a viable light source, which has historically been overcome through heterogeneous integration techniques. To further improve economic viability, the platform must transition to direct epitaxy on Si to bypass the scaling limits imposed by the small sizes and high cost of III-V substrates in heterogeneous integration. InAs quantum dots have demonstrated themselves as the most promising candidate for achieving high performance light emitters epitaxially grown on Si. Using molecular beam epitaxy, we have grown quantum dot lasers composed of InAs dot-in-a-well active layers on industry-standard, on-axis (001) Si substrates. In this report, we utilized p-doping of the quantum dot active region to increase gain for improved dynamic performance and reliability. These devices have been subjected to accelerated aging conditions at 60°C and a bias multiple of twice threshold current density. After 2,750 hours of continuous aging, an extrapolated lifetime of more than 100,000 hours has been calculated.
0.5% Holmium (Ho) doped YAG single crystal fiber (SCF) was fabricated using the laser heated pedestal growth
(LHPG) method and amplification properties of the fabricated Ho:YAG SCF were studied. The relatively large lengthto-
diameter ratio provides guiding for both the pump and signal beams propagating in the SCF. The propagation and
gain of signals with different modes were studied. A numerical method based on finite difference (FD) beam
propagation method (BPM) combined with the rate equations was developed for theoretical simulation. The results are
encouraging to demonstrate the advantages of SCF for its fiber-like beam guiding property and solid state material gain
property. The simulation tool provides details about how the fiber shape and launched mode affect the gain and output
beam shape as well as predicts the amplification behavior of such unique specialty fibers.
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