Heterogeneously integrated III-V/silicon distributed feedback lasers

Local-field engineering in slot waveguide for fabricating on-chip Bragg grating filters with high reflectivity across a flat broadband

On-chip Bragg gratings with high reflectivities have been found to have widespread applications in filters, resonators, and semiconductor lasers. However, achieving strong Bragg reflections with flat response across a broad bandwidth on the popular 220 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform still remains a challenge. In this paper, such a high performance device is proposed and fabricated, which is based on a slot waveguide with gratings etched on the inner sidewalls of the slot. By manipulating the local field in the slot region using a chirped and tapered grating-based mode transition, the device achieves a flat response with ultra-high reflection and low transmission for the TE mode across a broad operating bandwidth. Leveraging the ultra-high birefringence of the SOI waveguide, the device functions both as a TE slot waveguide reflector and a TM pass polarizer. Simulation results demonstrate that the device exhibits an ultra-high rejection of more than 50 dB and a reflectivity exceeding 0.99 for the TE mode across a 91 nm wavelength range, while maintaining a high transmittance of larger than 0.98 for the TM mode. Experimental results validate that the device performance is consistent with the simulation results. A fabricated device based on such a gratings exhibits a low insertion loss (<0.8 dB) and high polarization extinction ratio (>30 dB) over 100 nm bandwidth (1484 nm-1584 nm), demonstrating that the performance of the present design is competitive with that of the state-of-the-art SOI Bragg gratings.

Phase shift optimization of III/V-on-bulk-Si DFB LD for single-mode stability

A III/V-on-Bulk-Si DFB laser with a long phase shift section optimized for single-mode stability is presented. The optimized phase shift allows stable single-mode operations up to 20 times a threshold current. This mode stability is achieved by a gain difference between fundamental and higher modes maximized by sub-wavelength-scale tuning of the phase shift section. In SMSR-based yield analyses, the long-phase-shifted DFB laser showed superior performance compared to the conventional λ/4-phase-shifted ones.

Prospects and applications of on-chip lasers

Integrated silicon photonics has sparked a significant ramp-up of investment in both academia and industry as a scalable, power-efficient, and eco-friendly solution. At the heart of this platform is the light source, which in itself, has been the focus of research and development extensively. This paper sheds light and conveys our perspective on the current state-of-the-art in different aspects of application-driven on-chip silicon lasers. We tackle this from two perspectives: device-level and system-wide points of view. In the former, the different routes taken in integrating on-chip lasers are explored from different material systems to the chosen integration methodologies. Then, the discussion focus is shifted towards system-wide applications that show great prospects in incorporating photonic integrated circuits (PIC) with on-chip lasers and active devices, namely, optical communications and interconnects, optical phased array-based LiDAR, sensors for chemical and biological analysis, integrated quantum technologies, and finally, optical computing. By leveraging the myriad inherent attractive features of integrated silicon photonics, this paper aims to inspire further development in incorporating PICs with on-chip lasers in, but not limited to, these applications for substantial performance gains, green solutions, and mass production.

High wall-plug efficiency and narrow linewidth III-V-on-silicon C-band DFB laser diodes

We present recent results on compact and power efficient C-band distributed feedback lasers through adhesive bonding of a III-V die onto a silicon-on-insulator circuit. A wall-plug efficiency up to 16% is achieved for bias currents below 40 mA. The laser cavity is 180 µm long and a single facet output power up to 11 mW is measured at 20 °C by incorporating a broadband reflector in the silicon waveguide at one side of the cavity. Single mode operation at 1567 nm with a side mode suppression ratio of around 55 dB is demonstrated. By controlling the phase of the external feedback, the laser linewidth is decreased to 28 kHz. Measurement result shows a low relative intensity noise below -150 dB/Hz at 60 mA up to 6 GHz. We also report 20 and 10 Gbps data transmission at a bias current of 50 mA at 20 °C and 40 °C, respectively.

Development of an Epitaxial Growth Technique Using III-V on a Si Platform for Heterogeneous Integration of Membrane Photonic Devices on Si

The rapid increase in total transmission capacity within and between data centers requires the construction of low-cost, high-capacity optical transmitters. Since a tremendous number of transmitters are required, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) using Si photonics technology enabling the integration of various functional devices on a single chip is a promising solution. A limitation of a Si-based PIC is the lack of an efficient light source due to the indirect bandgap of Si; therefore, hybrid integration technology of III-V semiconductor lasers on Si is desirable. The major challenges are that heterogeneous integration of III-V materials on Si induces the formation of dislocation at high process temperature; thus, the epitaxial regrowth process is difficult to apply. This paper reviews the evaluations conducted on our epitaxial growth technique using a directly bonded III-V membrane layer on a Si substrate. This technique enables epitaxial growth without the fundamental difficulties associated with lattice mismatch or anti-phase boundaries. In addition, crystal degradation correlating with the difference in thermal expansion is eliminated by keeping the total III-V layer thickness thinner than ~350 nm. As a result, various III-V photonic-device-fabrication technologies, such as buried regrowth, butt-joint regrowth, and selective area growth, can be applicable on the Si-photonics platform. We demonstrated the growth of indium-gallium-aluminum arsenide (InGaAlAs) multi-quantum wells (MQWs) and fabrication of lasers that exhibit >25 Gbit/s direct modulation with low energy cost. In addition, selective-area growth that enables the full O-band bandgap control of the MQW layer over the 150-nm range was demonstrated. We also fabricated indium-gallium-arsenide phosphide (InGaAsP) based phase modulators integrated with a distributed feedback laser. Therefore, the directly bonded III-V-on-Si substrate platform paves the way to manufacturing hybrid PICs for future data-center networks.

Heterogeneous integration of InP and Si3N4 waveguides based on interlayer coupling for an integrated optical gyroscope

In this study, we demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, integrated indium phosphide (InP) and silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) waveguide platform, which is based on interlayer coupling, to achieve heterogeneous integration of a photodetector and waveguide ring resonator firstly. In order to improve the gyro bias stability, the Si₃N₄ and InP waveguides were designed with a high polarization extinction ratio and ultra-low loss. Three-dimensional finite difference time domain methods are used to optimize the InP taper dimensions to provide efficient optical coupling between the Si₃N₄ and InP waveguides. The optical coupler with a length of 100 µm is designed to achieve optical coupling between the Si₃N₄ and InP waveguides while maintaining its state of polarization all the way from the taper waveguides. The coupling efficiency of the optimized interlayer coupler has been improved to about 99.5%.

1.3 μm InAs/GaAs quantum dot DFB laser integrated on a Si waveguide circuit by means of adhesive die-to-wafer bonding

In this paper we report a single mode InAs/GaAs quantum dot distributed feedback laser at 1.3 μm wavelength heterogeneously integrated on a Si photonics waveguide circuit. Single mode lasing around 1300 nm with a side-mode suppression ratio higher than 40 dB is demonstrated. High temperature operation with continuous wave lasing up to 100°C is obtained. Threshold current densities as low as 205 A/cm² were measured. These devices are attractive candidates to use in uncooled silicon photonic transceivers in data centers.

Photonic switching in high performance datacenters [Invited]

Photonic switches are increasingly considered for insertion in high performance datacenter architectures to meet the growing performance demands of interconnection networks. We provide an overview of photonic switching technologies and develop an evaluation methodology for assessing their potential impact on datacenter performance. We begin with a review of three categories of optical switches, namely, free-space switches, III-V integrated switches and silicon integrated switches. The state-of-the-art of MEMS, LCOS, SOA, MZI and MRR switching technologies are covered, together with insights on their performance limitations and scalability considerations. The performance metrics that are required for optical switches to truly emerge in datacenters are discussed and summarized, with special focus on the switching time, cost, power consumption, scalability and optical power penalty. Furthermore, the Pareto front of the switch metric space is analyzed. Finally, we propose a hybrid integrated switch fabric design using the III-V/Si wafer bonding technique and investigate its potential impact on realizing reduced cost and power penalty.

O-band DFB laser heterogeneously integrated on a bulk-silicon platform

An O-band DFB laser heterogeneously integrated on bulk-silicon platform is presented. A high wall plug efficiency of over 8% up to 70°C is achieved due to efficient heat dissipation from III/V active region to silicon platform. The single-mode operation is maintained in a wide current range with side-mode suppression ratio over 45dB. This result completes the optical device library suite for the bulk-silicon platform used in most semiconductor products.

12.5 Gbit/s discretely tunable InP-on-silicon filtered feedback laser with sub-nanosecond wavelength switching times

A heterogeneously integrated InP-on-silicon fast tunable filtered feedback laser is demonstrated. The laser device consists of a main Fabry-Pérot cavity connected to an integrated arrayed waveguide grating of which the outputs form external cavities in which semiconductor optical amplifiers can be switched to provide single-mode operation and tunability. The laser can operate at four different wavelengths whereby switching between each wavelength channel is done within one nanosecond. For each wavelength channel 12.5 Gbit/s NRZ-OOK direct modulation is demonstrated. The combination of fast wavelength switching with straightforward wavelength control and high-speed direct modulation characteristics make the demonstrated laser structure very attractive for use in optical packet or burst switching systems.

Unidirectional, widely-tunable and narrow-linewidth heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-silicon laser

A heterogeneously integrated widely tunable III-V-on-silicon ring laser with unidirectional operation is demonstrated. 40 nm tuning range (from 1560 nm to 1600 nm) is obtained using the Vernier effect between two ring resonators incorporated in the ring laser cavity. Unidirectional operation is obtained by integrating a DBR reflector coupling the clockwise and counterclockwise mode of the ring laser cavity. Unidirectional operation is obtained over the entire tuning range with about 10 dB suppression of the clockwise mode. The laser linewidth is lower than 1 MHz over the entire tuning range, down to 550 kHz in the optimum operation point. The waveguide-coupled output power is above 0 dBm over the entire tuning range.

Regrowth-free integration of injection locked slotted laser with an electroabsorption modulator

Optical injection locking was used to red shift an integrated semiconductor laser up to 30 nm away from the main free running lasing mode. This injection locking of the laser beyond its band edge enabled its integration with an electroabsorption modulator to produce a 2.5 Gb/s eye diagram. The electroabsorption modulator was shown to have a 3 dB bandwidth of 5.5 GHz, which was limited by the contact capacitance. This paper demonstrates that such devices could be applied in a regrowth free, monolithic coherent wavelength division multiplexing transmitter.

Co-integrated 1.3µm hybrid III-V/silicon tunable laser and silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator operating at 25Gb/s

In this paper, the 200mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform is used to demonstrate the monolithic co-integration of hybrid III-V/silicon distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) tunable lasers and silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs), to achieve fully integrated hybrid transmitters for silicon photonics. The design of each active component, as well as the fabrication process steps of the whole architecture are described in detail. A data transmission rate up to 25Gb/s has been reached for transmitters using MZMs with active lengths of 2mm and 4mm. Extinction ratios of respectively 2.9dB and 4.7dB are obtained by applying drive voltages of 2.5V peak-to-peak on the MZMs. 25Gb/s data transmission is demonstrated at 1303.5nm and 1315.8nm, with the possibility to tune the operating wavelength by up to 8.5nm in each case, by using metallic heaters above the laser Bragg reflectors.

All-optical NRZ wavelength conversion based on a single hybrid III-V/Si SOA and optical filtering

We demonstrate all-optical wavelength conversion (AOWC) of non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal based on cross-gain modulation in a single heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-silicon semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with an optical bandpass filter. The SOA is 500 μm long and consumes less than 250 mW electrical power. We experimentally demonstrate 12.5 Gb/s and 40 Gb/s AOWC for both wavelength up and down conversion.

Novel adiabatic tapered couplers for active III-V/SOI devices fabricated through transfer printing

We present the design of two novel adiabatic tapered coupling structures that allow efficient and alignment tolerant mode conversion between a III-V membrane waveguide and a single-mode SOI waveguide in active heterogeneously integrated devices. Both proposed couplers employ a broad intermediate waveguide to facilitate highly alignment tolerant coupling. This robustness is needed to comply with the current misalignment tolerance requirements for high-throughput transfer printing. The proposed coupling structures are expected to pave the way for transfer-printing-based heterogeneous integration of active III-V devices such as semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), photodetectors, electro-absorption modulators (EAMs) and single wavelength lasers on silicon photonic integrated circuits.

Flip-chip assembly of VCSELs to silicon grating couplers via laser fabricated SU8 prisms

This article presents the flip-chip bonding of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) to silicon grating couplers (GCs) via SU8 prisms. The SU8 prisms are defined on top of the GCs using non-uniform laser ablation process. The prisms enable perfectly vertical coupling from the bonded VCSELs to the GCs. The VCSELs are flip-chip bonded on top of the silicon GCs employing the laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT)-assisted thermocompression technique. An excess loss of < 1 dB at 1.55 µm measured from the bonded assemblies is reported in this paper. The results of high speed transmission experiments performed on the bonded assemblies with clear eye openings up to 20 Gb/s are also presented.

Hybrid spiral-ring microlaser vertically coupled to silicon waveguide for stable and unidirectional output

A hybrid spiral-ring laser vertically coupled to a silicon waveguide is demonstrated to achieve stable and unidirectional output theoretically and experimentally. The mode competition between clockwise (CW) and counter-clockwise (CCW) modes is eliminated due to the mode coupling in a spiral resonator. The simulation results indicate that the CCW and CW direction traveling waves are dominant components, respectively, for the spiral resonator without and with an output waveguide. A hybrid AlGaInAs/Si spiral-ring laser is designed and fabricated vertically coupled to a silicon waveguide. For a spiral-ring laser with a radius of 30 μm and a ring width of 5 μm, the continuous-wave lasing threshold of 9.5 mA is obtained with the threshold current density of 1.1  kA/cm(2) at a temperature of 285 K. The output power fluctuations due to the mode competition between CW and CCW modes are eliminated. The output power from CCW direction is five times that from CW direction.

28 Gb/s direct modulation heterogeneously integrated C-band InP/SOI DFB laser

We demonstrate direct modulation of a heterogeneously integrated C-band DFB laser on SOI at 28 Gb/s with a 2 dB extinction ratio. This is the highest direct modulation bitrate so far reported for a membrane laser coupled to an SOI waveguide. The laser operates single mode with 6 mW output power at 100 mA bias current. The 3 dB modulation bandwidth is 15 GHz. Transmission experiments using a 2 km non zero dispersion shifted single mode fiber were performed at 28 Gb/s bitrate using a 2(7)-1 NRZ-PRBS pattern resulting in a 1 dB power penalty.

Hybrid III-V/silicon laser with laterally coupled Bragg grating

In this paper, we demonstrate a compact electrically pumped distributed-feedback hybrid III-V/silicon laser with laterally coupled Bragg grating for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The hybrid laser structure consists of AlGaInAs/InP multi-quantum-well gain layers on top of a laterally corrugated silicon waveguide patterned on a silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate. A pair of surface couplers is integrated at the two ends of the silicon waveguide for the optical coupling and characterization of the ouput light. Single wavelength emission of ~1.55µm with a side-mode-suppression- ratio larger than 20dB and low threshold current density of 1.54kA/cm(2) were achieved for the device under pulsed operation at 20 °C.

Heterogeneously integrated III-V/silicon dual-mode distributed feedback laser array for terahertz generation

We demonstrate an integrated distributed feedback (DFB) laser array as a dual-wavelength source for narrowband terahertz (THz) generation. The laser array is composed of four heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-silicon DFB lasers with different lengths enabling dual-mode lasing tolerant to process variations, bias fluctuations, and ambient temperature variations. By optical heterodyning the two modes emitted by the dual-wavelength DFB laser in the laser array using a THz photomixer composed of an uni-traveling carrier photodiode (UTC-PD), a narrow and stable carrier signal with a frequency of 0.357 THz is generated. The central operating frequency and the emitted terahertz wave linewidth are analyzed, along with their dependency on the bias current applied to the laser diode and ambient temperature.

Heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-silicon multibandgap superluminescent light-emitting diode with 290 nm optical bandwidth

A broadband superluminescent III-V-on-silicon light-emitting diode (LED) was realized. To achieve the large bandwidth, quantum well intermixing and multiple die bonding of InP on a silicon photonic waveguide circuit were combined for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The device consists of four sections with different bandgaps, centered around 1300, 1380, 1460, and 1540 nm. The fabricated LEDs were connected on-chip in a serial way, where the light generated in the smaller bandgap sections travels through the larger bandgap sections. By balancing the pump current in the four LEDs, we achieved 292 nm of 3 dB bandwidth and an on-chip power of -8  dBm.

CMOS-compatible 75 mW erbium-doped distributed feedback laser

On-chip, high-power, erbium-doped distributed feedback lasers are demonstrated in a CMOS-compatible fabrication flow. The laser cavities consist of silicon nitride waveguide and grating features, defined by wafer-scale immersion lithography and an erbium-doped aluminum oxide layer deposited as the final step in the fabrication process. The large mode size lasers demonstrate single-mode continuous wave operation with a maximum output power of 75 mW without any thermal damage. The laser output power does not saturate at high pump intensities and is, therefore, capable of delivering even higher on-chip signals if a stronger pump is utilized. The amplitude noise of the laser is investigated and the laser is shown to be stable and free from self-pulsing when the pump power is sufficiently above threshold.

Low threshold and high speed short cavity distributed feedback hybrid silicon lasers

In this paper we investigate reducing threshold and improving the efficiency and speed of distributed feedback hybrid silicon lasers. A low threshold current of 8.8 mA was achieved for a 200 μm cavity at 20 °C. A 3 dB bandwidth of 9.5 GHz as well as 12.5 Gb/s direct modulation of DFB laser diode was achieved on the hybrid silicon platform for the first time.