Nanolasers on Silicon

Diana Huffaker and her team at Cardiff University have shown tiny light-emitting nanolasers made of silicon. (Source: Cardiff U.)

The photonic band-edge lasers can operate at superfast speeds and have the potential to help the global electronics industry deliver a range of new appli­cations – from optical computing to remote sensing and heat seeking. “This is the first demonstration that shows how photonic band-edge lasers can be integrated directly on patterned silicon-on-insu­lator platforms,” said Diana Huffaker, Scientific Director of Cardiff University’s Institute for Compound Semi­conductors, based at Cardiff University’s School of Physics and Astronomy.

“Silicon is the most widely used material in semi­conductor industries. However, it has been difficult to integrate compact light sources on this material. Our research breaks through this barrier by developing extremely small lasers integrated on silicon platforms, applicable to various silicon-based electronic, opto­electronic, and photonic platforms“, Huffaker said.

Her research expertise lies in nanoscale epitaxy, fabrication and opto­electronic devices. Active projects include 3D nanolasers, advanced photo­detectors and photo­voltaics. Wyn Meredith, Director of the Compound Semiconductor Centre, a Joint Venture between IQE Plc and Cardiff University, said: “This research will have long-term implications in the rapidly expanding field of photonics, with a particular emphasis on driving commo­ditisation of high volume, high speci­fication optical components for mass market communi­cations and sensing appli­cations.“ (Source: Cardiff U.)

Reference: H. Kim et al.: Room‐Temperature InGaAs Nanowire Array Band‐Edge Lasers on Patterned Silicon‐on‐Insulator Platforms, phys. stat. sol. rrl 13, 1800489 (2019); DOI: 10.1002/pssr.201800489

Link: Advanced Materials and Devices (D. Huffaker), School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK