Dani Hak

A continuous-wave Raman silicon laser

Achieving optical gain and/or lasing in silicon has been one of the most challenging goals in silicon-based photonics because bulk silicon is an indirect bandgap semiconductor and therefore has a very low light emission efficiency. Recently, stimulated Raman scattering has been used to demonstrate light amplification and lasing in silicon. However, because of the nonlinear optical loss associated with two-photon absorption (TPA)-induced free carrier absorption (FCA), until now lasing has been limited to pulsed operation. Here we demonstrate a continuous-wave silicon Raman laser. Specifically, we show that TPA-induced FCA in silicon can be significantly reduced by introducing a reverse-biased p-i-n diode embedded in a silicon waveguide. The laser cavity is formed by coating the facets of the silicon waveguide with multilayer dielectric films. We have demonstrated stable single mode laser output with side-mode suppression of over 55 dB and linewidth of less than 80 MHz. The lasing threshold depends on the p-i-n reverse bias voltage and the laser wavelength can be tuned by adjusting the wavelength of the pump laser. The demonstration of a continuous-wave silicon laser represents a significant milestone for silicon-based optoelectronic devices.

An all-silicon Raman laser

The possibility of light generation and/or amplification in silicon has attracted a great deal of attention for silicon-based optoelectronic applications owing to the potential for forming inexpensive, monolithic integrated optical components. Because of its indirect bandgap, bulk silicon shows very inefficient band-to-band radiative electron–hole recombination. Light emission in silicon has thus focused on the use of silicon engineered materials such as nanocrystals, Si/SiO2 superlattices, erbium-doped silicon-rich oxides, surface-textured bulk silicon and Si/SiGe quantum cascade structures. Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) has recently been demonstrated as a mechanism to generate optical gain in planar silicon waveguide structures. In fact, net optical gain in the range 2–11 dB due to SRS has been reported in centimetre-sized silicon waveguides using pulsed pumping. Recently, a lasing experiment involving silicon as the gain medium by way of SRS was reported, where the ring laser cavity was formed by an 8-m-long optical fibre. Here we report the experimental demonstration of Raman lasing in a compact, all-silicon, waveguide cavity on a single silicon chip. This demonstration represents an important step towards producing practical continuous-wave optical amplifiers and lasers that could be integrated with other optoelectronic components onto CMOS-compatible silicon chips.

Net optical gain in a low loss silicon-on-insulator waveguide by stimulated Raman scattering.

We observe for the first time net optical gain in a low loss silicon waveguide in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based on stimulated Raman scattering with a pulsed pump laser at 1.545 microm. We show that pulsed pumping with a pulse width narrower than the carrier recombination lifetime in SOI significantly reduces the free carrier generation rate due to two-photon absorption (TPA) in silicon. For a 4.8 cm long waveguide with an effective core area of ~1.57 microm2, we obtained a net gain of 2 dB with a pump pulse width of ~17 ns and a peak pump power of ~470 mW inside the waveguide.

Net continuous wave optical gain in a low loss silicon-on-insulator waveguide by stimulated Raman scattering

We observe for the first time net continuous wave optical gain in a low loss silicon-on-insulator waveguide based on stimulated Raman scattering. We show that nonlinear optical loss due to two-photon absorption induced free carrier absorption can be significantly reduced by introducing a reverse biased p-i-n diode in the waveguide. For a 4.8 cm long waveguide with an effective core area of ~1.6 microm2, we obtain a net CW Raman gain of > 3dB with a pump power of ~700mW inside the waveguide.

Optical amplification and lasing by stimulated Raman scattering in silicon waveguides

Achieving light amplification and lasing in silicon is one of most challenging goals in silicon-based optoelectronics. As a nonlinear optical effect, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) provides a means to generate optical gain in silicon. Recent results of a nonlinear optics approach to optical amplification and lasing in silicon at the Photonics Technology Laboratory of Intel Corporation are reviewed. This paper starts with the description of the underlying physics related to the Raman scattering in silicon and experimental results of SRS in silicon waveguides. Then, it is shown that nonlinear optical absorption associated with the two-photon absorption (TPA)-induced free carrier absorption (FCA) is a dominant loss mechanism limiting optical gain in a silicon waveguide in addition to the linear optical scattering loss due to the waveguide sidewall roughness. The design and fabrication of a low-loss silicon waveguide containing a p-i-n diode to reduce the nonlinear optical loss are described. It is demonstrated that the free carrier density inside the waveguide can be reduced significantly with a reverse bias of the p-i-n diode. As a result, net optical gain in a silicon waveguide is achieved. The design, fabrication, and characterization of a Raman silicon laser are also described. Both pulsed and continuous-wave (CW) lasing in silicon are achieved using SRS

Raman gain and nonlinear optical absorption measurements in a low-loss silicon waveguide

We fabricated a low-loss (∼0.22dB∕cm) rib waveguide (WG) in silicon-on-insulator with a small effective core area of ∼1.57μm2 and measured the stimulated Raman scattering gain in the WG. We obtained 2.3dB Raman gain in a 4.8-cm-long S-shaped WG using a 1455nm pump laser with a cw power of 0.9W measured before the WG. In addition, we observed nonlinear dependence of Raman gain and optical propagation loss as a function of the pump power. Our study shows that this mainly is due to two-photon absorption (TPA) induced free carrier absorption in the silicon WG. We experimentally determined the TPA induced free carrier lifetime of 25ns, which agrees well with our modeling.

Lossless optical modulation in a silicon waveguide using stimulated Raman scattering

In this paper we describe a new modulation scheme using stimulated Raman scattering in conjunction with a reverse biased p-i-n diode embedded in a silicon waveguide. We show optical modulation of a weak probe beam by modulating the reverse bias voltage of the silicon waveguide excited by a strong pump beam. The probe beam modulation is due to the two-photon absorption-induced carrier density modulation in the waveguide. By tuning the probe wavelength to the Stokes wavelength, we demonstrate for the first time a lossless optical modulator in silicon with modulation speeds up to 80-MHz.

Issues Associated With Polarization Independence in Silicon Photonics

Interest in silicon photonics is experiencing a dramatic increase due to emerging applications areas and several high profile successes in device and technology development. Despite early work dating back to the mid-1980s, dramatic progress has been made only in the recent years. While many approaches to research have been developed, the striking difference between the work of the early to mid-1990s, and more recent work, is that the latter has been associated with a trend to reduce the cross sectional dimensions of the waveguides that form the devices. The question arises therefore, as to whether one should move to very small strip waveguides (silicon wires) of the order of 250 nm in height and a few hundred nanometres in width for improved device performance but with little hope of polarization independence, or to utilize slightly larger rib waveguides that offer more opportunity to control the polarization dependence of the devices. In this paper, we discuss the devices suitable for one approach or the other, and present the designs associated both with strip and rib waveguides. In particular, we present the designs of polarization-independent ring resonators with free spectral ranges up to 12 nm, we propose modulators for bandwidths in the tens of gigahertz regime, and present grating-based couplers for rib and strip waveguides, and/or for wafer scale testing, as well as a novel means of developing Bragg gratings via ion implantation

Multi-stage racetrack resonator filters in silicon-on-insulator

In an effort to find low-cost alternatives for components currently used in dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), various devices fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) have been investigated. Many include modulators, filters, and switches that can be realized with a ring or racetrack resonator. For such devices to be commercially viable, they need to be insensitive to the polarization state of the input signal. Herein we discuss the design of polarization-independent multi-stage racetrack filters in SOI and compare this design with a single-stage configuration.

Recent development in silicon photonics: 2.5 Gb/s silicon optical modulator and silicon Raman laser

Due to the mature silicon fabrication technology and vast existing infrastructures, silicon photonics has a chance to offer low cost solutions to telecommunications and data communications. It could also enable a chip-scale platform for monolithic integration of optics and microelectronics circuits for applications of optical interconnects for which high data streams are required in a very small footprint. Two key building blocks needed for any silicon based optoelectronics are silicon based light source and high-speed optical modulator. This paper gives an overview of recent results for a fast (>1GHz) silicon modulator and a silicon Raman laser. We present optical characterization of a high speed metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor-based silicon optical modulator. We show that a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure with a custom-designed driver circuit results in the realization of a silicon modulator transmitting data at 2.5 Gb/s with an extinction ratio of up to 2.8 dB. In addition we show that by reducing the waveguide dimensions one can improve the phase efficiency. In addition, as single crystal silicon possesses higher (four orders of magnitude) Raman gain coefficient as compared to silica, it is possible to achieve sizeable gain in chip-scale silicon waveguide for optical amplification and lasing. With a 4.8 cm long waveguide containing a reverse biased p-i-n diode, we demonstrate lasing operation using a pulsed pump laser. We achieve ~10% slope efficiency. We in addition model a continuous-wave silicon Raman laser and show that higher conversion efficiency and lower threshold power can be realized with optimised cavity device design.