Hybrid integrated mode-locked laser using a GaAs-based 1064 nm gain chip and a SiN external cavity.

External cavity mode-locked lasers could be used as comb sources for high volume application such as LIDAR and dual comb spectroscopy. Currently demonstrated chip scale integrated mode-locked lasers all operate in the C-band. In this paper, a hybrid-integrated external cavity mode-locked laser working at 1064 nm is demonstrated, a wavelength beneficial for optical coherence tomography or Raman spectroscopy applications. Additionally, optical injection locking is demonstrated, showing an improvement in the optical linewidth, and an increased stability of the comb spectrum.

Short bends using curved mirrors in silicon waveguides for terahertz waves.

Dielectric waveguides are capable of confining and guiding terahertz waves along sub-wavelength sized structures. A small feature size allows for a denser integration of different photonic components such as modulators, beam-splitters, wavelength (de)multiplexers and more. The integration of components on a small scale requires bending of the waveguides. In this paper we demonstrate a very short silicon 90°-bend, based on total internal reflection on an elliptically curved outer facet and a rounding of the inner corner joining two waveguides, with an average loss of 0.14 dB per bend in the 600-750 GHz range.

Micro-transfer-printed narrow-linewidth III-V-on-Si double laser structure with a combined 110 nm tuning range.

In this work, we demonstrate for the first time a narrow-linewidth III-V-on-Si double laser structure with more than a 110 nm wavelength tuning range realized using micro-transfer printing (µTP) technology. Two types of pre-fabricated III-V semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) with a photoluminescence (PL) peak around 1500 nm and 1550 nm are micro-transfer printed on two silicon laser cavities. The laser cavities are fabricated in imec's silicon photonics (SiPh) pilot line on 200 mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers with a 400 nm thick silicon device layer. By combining the outputs of the two laser cavities on chip, wavelength tunability over S+C+L-bands is achieved.

Heterogeneous integration of Si photodiodes on silicon nitride for near-visible light detection.

Silicon nitride (SiN) is used extensively to complement the standard silicon photonics portfolio. However, thus far demonstrated light sources and detectors on SiN have predominantly focused on telecommunication wavelengths. Yet, to unlock the full potential of SiN, integrated photodetectors for wavelengths below 850 nm are essential to serve applications such as biosensing, imaging, and quantum photonics. Here, we report the first, to the best of our knowledge, microtransfer printed Si p-i-n photodiodes on a commercially available SiN platform to target wavelengths <850 nm. A novel heterogeneous integration process flow was developed to offer a high microtransfer printing yield. Moreover, these devices are fabricated with CMOS compatible and wafer-scale technology.

Hybrid integrated mode-locked laser diodes with a silicon nitride extended cavity.

Integrated semiconductor mode-locked lasers have shown promise in many applications and are readily fabricated using generic InP photonic integration platforms. However, the passive waveguides offered in such platforms have relatively high linear and nonlinear losses that limit the performance of these lasers. By extending such lasers with, for example, an external cavity, the performance can be increased considerably. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time that a high-performance mode-locked laser can be achieved with a butt-coupling integration technique using chip scale silicon nitride waveguides. A platform-independent SiN/SU8 coupler design is used to couple between the silicon nitride external cavity and the III/V active chip. Mode-locked lasers at 2.18 GHz and 15.5 GHz repetition rates are demonstrated with Lorentzian RF linewidths several orders of magnitude smaller than what has been demonstrated on monolithic InP platforms. The RF linewidth was 31 Hz for the 2.18 GHz laser.

Efficient type II second harmonic generation in an indium gallium phosphide on insulator wire waveguide aligned with a crystallographic axis.

We theoretically and experimentally investigate type II second harmonic generation in III-V-on-insulator wire waveguides. We show that the propagation direction plays a crucial role and that longitudinal field components can be leveraged for robust and efficient conversion. We predict that the maximum theoretical conversion is larger than that of type I second harmonic generation for similar waveguide dimensions and reach an experimental conversion efficiency of 12%/W, limited by the propagation loss.

Proposal for an integrated silicon-photonics terahertz gas detector using photoacoustics.

A design and multiphysical model is presented for an on-chip gas sensor that transduces terahertz gas absorption through sound generation into a mechanical motion that can be read out externally. The signal is triply enhanced by designing a structure that functions simultaneously as an optical, an acoustical and a mechanical resonator. The structure is made in high-resistivity silicon and can be fabricated using CMOS and MEMS fabrication technologies. The sensor is a purely passive element, so an external THz source and read-out are required. The chip has a footprint of 3 mm2. A detection limit of 234 ppb of methanol for a source power of 1 mW and an integration time of 1 ms is predicted.

Influence of longitudinal mode components on second harmonic generation in III-V-on-insulator nanowires.

The large index contrast and the subwalength tranverse dimensions of nanowires induce strong longitudinal electric field components. We show that these components play an important role for second harmonic generation in III-V wire waveguides. To illustrate this behavior, an efficiency map of nonlinear conversion is determined based on full-vectorial calculations. It reveals that many different waveguide dimensions and directions are suitable for efficient conversion of a fundamental quasi-TE pump mode around the 1550 nm telecommunication wavelength to a higher-order second harmonic mode.

Octave-spanning coherent supercontinuum generation in an AlGaAs-on-insulator waveguide.

We demonstrate supercontinuum generation over an octave spaning from 1055 to 2155 nm on the highly nonlinear aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs)-on-insulator platform. This is enabled by the generation of two dispersive waves in a 3-mm-long dispersion-engineered nano-waveguide. The waveguide is pumped at telecom wavelengths (1555 nm) with 3.6 pJ femtosecond pulses. We experimentally validate the coherence of the generated supercontinuum around the pump wavelength (1450-1750 nm), and our numerical simulation shows a high degree of coherence over the full spectrum.

Strong forces in optomechanically actuated resonant mass sensor.

As resonance mass sensors shrink in order to improve the sensitivity, traditional methods of transduction and readout struggle to keep up with increasing resonance frequencies and decreasing feature sizes. In this work we demonstrate an all-photonically transduced resonant mass sensor that manages to deal with these problems. The strong optomechanical force in slot waveguides is used to drive the mechanical resonanator giving a good signal to noise ratio at low optical powers. Using 120 µW of modulated optical power we measure a frequency noise equivalent to being able to resolve 500 kDa.