PTOELECTRONIC DEVICE

ACS Photonics, 6, 1434 (2019)

Mid-infrared (MIR) wavelength is strategical important band for thermal imaging, remote sensing, free space communication, etc. Recent progresses in integrated mid-infrared photonics on silicon offer an alternative platform for manufacturing low-cost and high-performance MIR system in high volumes. However, light source has always been a grand challenge for integrated photonics and it is even harder to monolithically integrate MIR laser on silicon which could be operated at room temperature.

A multi-institutional team of researchers, led by Prof. Shui-Qing Yu from University of Arkansas, have recently made significant improvement to optically pumped MIR lasers, which is made of GeSn monolithically integrated on silicon substrates, capable of covering lasing wavelength from 2 to 3 μm. The researchers could obtain high-quality direct bandgap GeSn alloy with 20% Sn composition, allowing a low lasing threshold and relatively high operation temperature being close to the room temperature. This process is CMOS compatible and can be easily monolithically integrated onto current silicon platform for low-cost, lightweight, compact, low-power consuming integrated mid-IR light sources.

Hongtao Lin (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)

doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/10/100202