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Hybrid indium phosphide-on-silicon nanolaser diode

Nature Photonics volume 11, pages 297–300 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

The most-awaited convergence of microelectronics and photonics promises to bring about a revolution for on-chip data communications and processing1. Among all the optoelectronic devices to be developed, power-efficient nanolaser diodes able to be integrated densely with silicon photonics and electronics are essential to convert electrical data into the optical domain. Here, we report a demonstration of ultracompact laser diodes based on one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavities2,3,4 made in InP nanoribs heterogeneously integrated on a silicon-waveguide circuitry. The specific nanorib design enables an efficient electrical injection of carriers in the nanocavity without spoiling its optical properties. Room-temperature continuous-wave (CW) single-mode operation is obtained with a low current threshold of 100 µA. Laser emission at 1.56 µm in the silicon waveguides is obtained with wall-plug efficiencies greater than 10%. This result opens up exciting avenues for constructing optical networks at the submillimetre scale for on-chip interconnects and signal processing.

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Figure 1: Schematics of the hybrid nanolaser diode made of an InP-based 1D PhC nanocavity heterogeneously integrated with a SOI waveguide.
Figure 2: Simulated electro-optical characteristics of the nanolasers as a function of d, the p metallic contact distance.
Figure 3: Fabricated hybrid nanolaser.
Figure 4: Electro-optical characterization of the laser in CW at RT.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the FP7 European integrated project PhoxTrot (FP7-ICT 318240).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. STMicroelectronics SA, 850 Rue Jean Monnet, 38926 Crolles, France

    Guillaume Crosnier

  2. Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, C2N-Marcoussis, Marcoussis, 91460, France

    Guillaume Crosnier, Dorian Sanchez, Sophie Bouchoule, Paul Monnier, Gregoire Beaudoin, Isabelle Sagnes, Rama Raj & Fabrice Raineri

  3. Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris Cedex 13, 75207, France

    Fabrice Raineri

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  1. Guillaume Crosnier
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Contributions

G.C. and F.R. proposed the concept and designed the hybrid lasers. G.B. and I.S. grew the InP-based heterostructures. G.C., D.S., F.R. and S.B. fabricated the hybrid lasers. G.C., P.M. and D.S. performed the electro-optical characterization. D.S., R.R. and F.R. wrote the article. R.R. and F.R. led the project.

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Correspondence to Fabrice Raineri.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Crosnier, G., Sanchez, D., Bouchoule, S. et al. Hybrid indium phosphide-on-silicon nanolaser diode. Nature Photon 11, 297–300 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2017.56

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