Hybrid grating (HG) with a high-refractive-index cap layer added onto a high contrast grating (HCG), can provide a high reflectance close 100 % over a broader wavelength range than HCGs, or work as a ultrahigh quality (Q) factor resonator. The reflection and resonance properties of HGs have been investigated and the mechanisms leading to these properties are discussed. A HG reflector sample integrating a III-V cap layer with InGaAlAs quantum wells onto a Si grating has been fabricated and its reflection property has been characterized. The HG-based lasers have a promising prospect for silicon photonics light source or high-speed laser applications.
In recent years, various approaches to improve the speed of directly modulated vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers
(VCSELs) have been reported and demonstrated good improvement. In this paper, we propose and numerically investigate a new possibility of using high-index-contrast grating (HCG) as mirror for VCSELs. By changing the grating
design, one can control the reflection delay of the grating mirror, enabling the control of cavity photon lifetime. On the other hand, short energy penetration depth of the HCG results in smaller modal volume, compared to DBR VCSELs. An example structure shows that the HCG VCSEL has a 30-% higher 3-dB bandwidth than the DBR VCSEL.
In this paper, we propose a broadband-tunable resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetector (RCE-PD) structure with double high-index-contrast grating (HCG) mirrors and numerically investigate its characteristics. The detector is designed to operate at 1550-nm wavelength. The detector structure consists of a top InP HCG mirror, a p-i-n photodiode embedding multiple quantum wells, and a Si HCG mirror formed in the Si layer of a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The detection wavelength can be changed by moving the top InP HCG mirror suspended in the air. High reflectivity and small penetration length of HCGs lead to a narrow absorption linewidth of 0.38 nm and a broad tuning range of 111 nm. The peak absorption efficiency is 76-84% within the tuning range. This broadband-tunable and narrow-absorption-linewidth RCE-PD is desirable for applications where selective wavelength demultiplexing is required. Furthermore, the fact that it can be fabricated on a silicon platform offers us a possibility of integration with electronics.
The performance of injection schemes among recently demonstrated electrically pumped photonic crystal nanolasers has
been investigated numerically. The computation has been carried out at room temperature using a commercial
semiconductor simulation software. For the simulations two electrical injection schemes have been compared: vertical pi-
n junction through a current post structure as in1 and lateral p-i-n junction with either uniform material as in2 or with a
buried heterostructure (BH) as in3. To allow a direct comparison of the three schemes the same active material
composition consisting of 3 InGaAsP QWs on an InP substrate has been chosen for the modeling. In the simulations the
main focus is on the electrical and optical properties of the nanolasers i.e. electrical resistance, threshold voltage,
threshold current and wallplug efficiency. In the current flow evaluation the lowest threshold current has been achieved
with the lateral electrical injection through the BH; while the lowest resistance has been obtained from the current post
structure even though this model shows a higher current threshold because of the lack of carrier confinement. Final scope
of the simulations is the analyses of advantages and disadvantages of different electrical injection schemes for the
development of the optimal device design for the future generation of electrically pumped nanolasers for terabit
communication.
High-index-contrast grating mirrors featuring beam steering abilities for the transmitted beam as well as high reflectivity
over a broad bandwidth are suggested. Gratings designed to provide control over the wave front of the transmitted beam
are numerically investigated. The proposed structures are then fabricated for experimental characterization. The
measurements performed show the beam steering ability of the suggested HCG designs and are also in good agreement
with the theoretical predictions. General design rules to engineer these HCG structures for different applications are
derived. These grating mirrors would have a significant impact on low cost laser sources fabrication, since a more
efficient integration of optoelectronic modules can be achieved by avoiding expensive external lens systems.
In this talk, novel vertical-cavity laser structure consisting of a dielectric Bragg reflector, a III-V active region,
and a high-index-contrast grating made in the Si layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer will be presented. In
the Si light source version of this laser structure, the SOI grating works as a highly-reflective mirror as well as
routes light into a Si in-plane output waveguide connected to the grating. In the vertical-cavity surface-emitting
laser (VCSEL) version, there is no in-plane output waveguide connected to the grating. Thus, light is vertically
emitted through the Bragg reflector. Numerical simulations show that both the silicon light source and the
VCSEL exploiting SOI grating mirrors have superior performances, compared to existing silicon light sources
and long wavelength VCSELs. These devices are highly adequate for chip-level optical interconnects as well as
conventional short-distance optical connections. In the talk, device physics will be discussed in detail.
A high-power single-mode 1.3-μm InGaAs/GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)
structure employing a novel concept of engineering the optical mode profile to match the gain profile is
suggested and demonstrated experimentally and theoretically. In contrast to various singlemode
VCSEL approaches reported in the literature so far, based on selective loss or anti-resonant effects to
suppress higher order modes, it is due to a novel design to increase the active region size while
maintaining single mode emission. The shape of the fundamental mode profile is engineered to be
similar to the gain profile which resembles a doughnut shape especially in intra-cavity contacted
devices. In this way, the fundamental mode with the best fit to the gain profile can reach the lasing
condition earliest and consume all the optical gain, leading to a suppression of higher order modes.
Notably, despite this engineered shape of the mode profile, the far field shape remains close to
Gaussian. The mode shaping can be achieved by introducing a shallow intracavity patterning before
depositing the top mirror. Fabricated device structures consist of a A-Si/SiN/SiO2 top mirror,
modulation-doped current spreading layers, re-grown current confinement layers, three InGaAs/GaAs
quantum wells, and a GaAs/AlGaAs bottom mirror. Single mode operation is demonstrated even for
devices with active region as large as 10μm.
We report a new method for monitoring vapor concentration of volatile organic compounds using a vertical-cavity
surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The VCSEL is coated with a polymer thin film on the top distributed Bragg
reflector (DBR). The analyte absorption is transduced to the electrical domain through modulation of the VCSEL
output power as the polymer swell. We have investigated the responsivity of this technique experimentally using
a plasma polymerized polystyrene coating and explain the results theoretically as a reflectance modulation of
the top DBR.
A widely-tunable single-mode long wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser structure employing a MEMStunable
high-index-contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) is suggested and numerically investigated. A very large 80-
nm linear tuning range was obtained as the HCG was actuated by -220 to 250 nm. The large tuning range results from
making the air gap part of the optical cavity, which was achieved by inserting an antireflection layer below the air gap
and by the absence of partial top DBR for current spreading. The single mode operation was maintained throughout the
tuning range, thanks to the selective pumping of the fundamental mode and the moderate mode selection by the HCG
itself. Analytic expressions for tuning range and tuning sensitivity were derived, using the penetration depth of the HCG
for the first time.
In this article, we report our results on 980nm high-index-contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) VCSELs for optical
interconnection applications. In our structure, a thin undoped HCG layer replaces a thick p-type Bragg mirror. The HCG
mirror can feasibly achieve polarization-selective reflectivities close to 100%. The investigated structure consists of a
HCG mirror with an underneath λ/4-thick oxide gap, four p-type GaAlAs/GaAs pairs for current spreading, three
InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells, and an n-type GaAlAs/GaAs Bragg mirror. The HCG structure was defined by e-beam
lithography and dry etching. The current oxide aperture and the oxide gap underneath the HCG were simultaneously
formed by the selective wet oxidation process. Compared to air-gap high contrast grating mirrors demonstrated
elsewhere, our grating mirrors are particular since they are supported by thinner λ/4 aluminium oxide layer, and thus are
mechanically robust and thinner than usual designs. Sub-milliamp threshold currents and single-transverse-mode
operation was obtained. A hero device exhibited maximum singlemode output power of more than 4 mW at room
temperature and 1 mw at 70°C, which are the highest values ever reported from the HCG structures. These results build a
bridge between a standard VCSEL and a hybrid laser on silicon, making them of potential use for the realization of
silicon photonics.
This paper presents a short-distance reconfigurable high-speed optical interconnects architecture employing a Vertical
Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) array, Opto-very-large-scale-integrated (Opto-VLSI) processors, and a
photodetector (PD) array. The core component of the architecture is the Opto-VLSI processor which can be driven by
digital phase steering and multicasting holograms that reconfigure the optical interconnects between the input and output
ports. The optical interconnects architecture is experimentally demonstrated at 2.5 Gbps using high-speed 1×3 VCSEL
array and 1×3 photoreceiver array in conjunction with two 1×4096 pixel Opto-VLSI processors. The minimisation of the
crosstalk between the output ports is achieved by appropriately aligning the VCSEL and PD elements with respect to the
Opto-VLSI processors and driving the latter with optimal steering phase holograms.
Intracavity-contacted resonant cavity enhanced photodetectors (IC RCEPDs) have been fabricated for monolithic integration with IC VCSELs. A low parasitic capacitance of 0.39 pF and an extrinsic 3-dB bandwidth of 9 GHz are demonstrated by using coplanar metal contacts. Optimization issues on device and epi designs are discussed. The largest frequency saturation photocurrent below which the extrinsic 3-dB bandwidth exceeds 6.5 GHz is 4.2 μA.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.