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Kazakov D, Letsou TP, Beiser M, Zhi Y, Opačak N, Piccardo M, Schwarz B, Capasso F. Active mid-infrared ring resonators. Nat Commun 2024; 15:607. [PMID: 38242868 PMCID: PMC10799048 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44628-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
High-quality optical ring resonators can confine light in a small volume and store it for millions of roundtrips. They have enabled the dramatic size reduction from laboratory scale to chip level of optical filters, modulators, frequency converters, and frequency comb generators in the visible and the near-infrared. The mid-infrared spectral region (3-12 μm), as important as it is for molecular gas sensing and spectroscopy, lags behind in development of integrated photonic components. Here we demonstrate the integration of mid-infrared ring resonators and directional couplers, incorporating a quantum cascade active region in the waveguide core. It enables electrical control of the resonant frequency, its quality factor, the coupling regime and the coupling coefficient. We show that one device, depending on its operating point, can act as a tunable filter, a nonlinear frequency converter, or a frequency comb generator. These concepts extend to the integration of multiple active resonators and waveguides in arbitrary configurations, thus allowing the implementation of purpose-specific mid-infrared active photonic integrated circuits for spectroscopy, communication, and microwave generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry Kazakov
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
| | - Theodore P Letsou
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Maximilian Beiser
- Institute of Solid State Electronics, TU Wien, 1040, Vienna, Austria
| | - Yiyang Zhi
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Nikola Opačak
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Institute of Solid State Electronics, TU Wien, 1040, Vienna, Austria
| | - Marco Piccardo
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Department of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal
- Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores - Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC MN), 1000-029, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Benedikt Schwarz
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Institute of Solid State Electronics, TU Wien, 1040, Vienna, Austria
| | - Federico Capasso
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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