Photonic integrated circuits – a new approach to laser technology (original) (raw)

Silicon Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits

Springer Series in Optical Sciences, 2012

This chapter discusses photonic integration on silicon from the material property, device as well as photonic circuit point of view. The progressive growth of silicon-based electronic integrated circuits (ICs) has followed Moore's Law and has been driven by the roadmap of conventional electronic ICs. Silicon is arguably the primary host material platform for future photonic integrated circuits (PICs) as well, particularly for applications beyond conventional fiber-optical telecommunications. Until recently, the lack of a laser source on silicon has been seen as the key hurdle limiting the usefulness and complexity of silicon photonic integrated circuits. In this chapter, we review the numerous efforts including bandgap engineering, Raman scattering, monolithic heteroepitaxy and hybrid integration to realize efficient light emission, amplification and lasing on silicon. The state-of-the-art integration technologies for narrow linewidth lasers and high-speed modulators are also discussed. 15.1 Silicon as a Platform for PICs An integrated circuit (IC) is a miniaturized electronic circuit that consists of a large number of individual components, fabricated side-by-side on a common substrate

High Performance InP-Based Photonic ICs—A Tutorial

Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2000

The performance of relatively complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is now reaching such high levels that the long sought goal of realizing low-cost, -size, -weight, and -power chips to replace hybrid solutions seems to have been achieved for some applications. This tutorial traces some of the evolution of this technology that has led to an array of high-functionality InP-based PICs useful in optical sensing and communication applications. Examples of recent high-performance PICs that have arisen out of these developments are presented.

High performance InP-based photonic Ics—A tutorial

2011

The performance of relatively complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is now reaching such high levels that the long sought goal of realizing low-cost,-size,-weight, and-power chips to replace hybrid solutions seems to have been achieved for some applications. This tutorial traces some of the evolution of this technology that has led to an array of high-functionality InP-based PICs useful in optical sensing and communication applications. Examples of recent high-performance PICs that have arisen out of these developments are presented. Fundamental to much of this work was the development of integration strategies to compatibly combine a variety of components in a relatively simple fabrication process. For the UCSB work, this was initially based upon the creation of a single-chip widely tunable semiconductor laser that required the integration of gain, reflector, phase-tuning and absorber sections. As it provided most of the elements needed for many more complex PICs, their creation followed somewhat naturally by adding more of these same elements outside of the laser cavity using the same processing steps. Of course, additional elements were needed for some of the PICs to be discussed, but in most cases, these have been added without adding significant processing complexity. Generally, the integration philosophy has been to avoid patterned epitaxial growths, to use post-growth processing, such as quantum-well intermixing to provide multiple bandgaps, rather than multiple epitaxial regrowths, and to focus on processes that could be performed with vendor growth and implant facilities so that only basic clean room processing facilities are required. Index Terms-Photonic integrated circuits (PIC), quantum-well intermixing (QWI), tunable lasers, wavelength converters. I. INTRODUCTION H IGH-PERFORMANCE large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in InP have recently been created for transmitter, receiver, wavelength-conversion, and Manuscript

Improved Functionality and Performance in Photonic Integrated Circuits

2006 International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials Conference Proceedings, 2006

With the continued maturation of InP-based photonic ICs, improvements in their functionality, performance, and reliability are evolving. High-performance single-chip transmitters, receivers, sensors, transceivers, and wavelength converters that integrate numerous components have been demonstrated. Here we summarize results of integrated widely-tunable transmitters using two different integration platforms.

Advanced InP Photonic Integrated Circuits for Communication and Sensing

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 2017

Similar to the area of microelectronics, InP-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in the optical domain as a counterpart is also seeing a clear exponential development. This rapid progress can be defined by a number of active/passive components monolithically integrated on a single chip. Given the probability of achieving low-cost, compact, robust and energy-efficient complex photonic systems, there have been significant achievements made in realizing relatively complex InP-PICs in recent years. The performance of these complex PICs is reaching a stage that can enable a whole new class of applications beyond telecom and datacom. A great deal of effort from both academia and industry has made the significant advances of this technology possible. This development has resulted in a positive and profound impact in many areas including sensing, medical diagnostics, metrology, and consumer photonics. This review paper will mainly discuss the recent, in particular since 2012, progress and findings obtained out of current academic and industry research activities for InP-PICs. Major emphasis will be given to the high-performance and complex PICs that have been reported by the scientific community in this time period. A prospect for further development of this photonic integration in InP-platforms is also briefly described.

Photonic Integrated Circuits

Integrated Photonics Research and Applications/Nanophotonics for Information Systems, 2005

The integration scale in Photonic Integrated Circuits will be pushed to VLSI-level in the coming decade. Key technologies for reduction of device dimensions are high resolution lithography and deep waveguide etching technology. In this paper developments in Photonic Integration are reviewed and the limits for reduction of device dimensions are discussed.

Advanced integration schemes for high-functionality/high-performance photonic integrated circuits

SPIE Proceedings, 2006

The evolution of optical communication systems has facilitated the required bandwidth to meet the increasing data rate demands. However, as the peripheral technologies have progressed to meet the requirements of advanced systems, an abundance of viable solutions and products have emerged. The finite market for these products will inevitably force a paradigm shift upon the communications industry. Monolithic integration is a key technology that will facilitate this shift as it will provide solutions at low cost with reduced power dissipation and footprint in the form of highlyfunctional optical components based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs). In this manuscript, we discuss the advantages, potential applications, and challenges of photonic integration. After a brief overview of various integration techniques, we present our novel approaches to increase the performance of the individual components comprising highly functional PICs.

Photonic integration for high-denisty and multifunctionality in the InP-material system

Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits VIII, 2006

Monolithic photonic integration offers unsurpassed perspectives for higher functional density, new functions, high performance, and reduced cost for the telecommunication. Advanced local material growth techniques and the emerging photonic crystal (PhC) technology are enabling concepts towards high-density photonic integration, unprecedented performance, multi-functionality, and ultimately optical systems-on-a-chip. In this paper, we present our achievements in photonic integration applied to the fabrication of InP-based mode-locked laser diodes capable of generating optical pulses with sub-ps duration using the heterogeneous growth of a new uni-traveling carrier ultrafast absorber. The results are compared to simulations performed using a distributed model including intra-cavity reflections at the sections interfaces and hybrid mode-locking. We also discuss our work on InP-based photonic crystals (PhCs) for dense photonic integration. A combination of two-dimensional modeling for functional optimization and three-dimensional simulation for real-world verification is used. The fabricated structures feature more than 3.5µm deep holes as well as excellent pattern-transfer accuracy using electron-beam lithography and advanced proximity-effects correction. Passive devices such as waveguides, 60° bends and power splitters are characterized by means of the end-fire technique. The devices are also investigated using scanning-near field optical microscopy. The PhC activity is extended to the investigation of TM bandgaps for all-optical switches relying on intersubband transitions at 1.55µm in AlAsSb/InGaAs quantum wells.

Components for optoelectronic and photonic integrated circuits — design, modelling, manufacturing and monolithic integration on silicon

Materials Science and Engineering: B, 2000

This paper presents our results in the field of silicon optoelectronic and photonic integrated circuits. We integrated photodetectors, linear or logic electronic circuits, waveguides, coupling elements, interferometers, transducing layers and micromechanical structures on the same silicon chip. Design, modelling and experimental manufacture of these components are presented, underlining the original approaches and results. Special structures for photodetectors were designed in order to allow monolithic integration with electronic circuits and waveguides. The attention was focused on the matching of all the involved technologies, to allow the monolithic integration of all components.

Active photonic integrated circuits

International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials, 2005., 2005

Recent advances in photonic integration technology on InP and related materials have enabled continued growth in the scale, performance and quality of active photonic integrated circuits. Complex widely-tunable transmitters, transceivers, and wavelength converters with state-of-the-art performance have been demonstrated.