Jørn Märcher Hvam

Spectral hole-burning and carrier-heating dynamics in InGaAs quantum-dot amplifiers

The ultrafast gain and index dynamics in a set of InAs-InGaAs-GaAs quantum-dot (QD) amplifiers are measured at room temperature with femtosecond resolution. The role of spectral hole-burning (SHB) and carrier heating (CH) in the recovery of gain compression is investigated in detail. An ultrafast recovery of the spectral hole within /spl sim/100 fs is measured, comparable to bulk and quantum-well amplifiers, which is contradicting a carrier relaxation bottleneck in electrically pumped QD devices. The CH dynamics in the QD is quantitatively compared with results on an InGaAsP bulk amplifier. Reduced CH for both gain and refractive index dynamics of the QD devices is found, which is a promising prerequisite for high-speed applications. This reduction is attributed to reduced free-carrier absorption-induced heating caused by the small carrier density necessary to provide amplification in these low-dimensional systems.

Ultrafast gain dynamics in InAs-InGaAs quantum-dot amplifiers

The ultrafast dynamics of gain and refractive index in an electrically pumped InAs-InGaAs quantum-dot (QD) optical amplifier are measured at room temperature using differential transmission with femtosecond time resolution. Both absorption and gain regions are investigated. While the absorption bleaching recovery occurs on a picosecond time scale, the gain compression recovers with /spl sim/100-fs time constant, making devices based on such dots promising for high-speed optical communications.

Silicon-on-insulator polarization splitting and rotating device for polarization diversity circuits.

A compact and efficient polarization splitting and rotating device built on the silicon-on-insulator platform is introduced, which can be readily used for the interface section of a polarization diversity circuit. The device is compact, with a total length of a few tens of microns. It is also simple, consisting of only two parallel silicon-on-insulator wire waveguides with different widths, and thus requiring no additional and nonstandard fabrication steps. A total insertion loss of -0.6 dB and an extinction ratio of 12 dB have been obtained experimentally in the whole C-band.

Size dependence of the wavefunction of self-assembled InAs quantum dots from time-resolved optical measurements

Jeppe Johansen, Søren Stobbe, Ivan S. Nikolaev, Toke Lund-Hansen, Philip T. Kristensen, Jørn M. Hvam, Willem L. Vos, and Peter Lodahl COM · DTU, Department of Communications, Optics, and Materials, Nano · DTU, Technical University of Denmark, DTU Building 345V, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark Center for Nanophotonics, FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF), Amsterdam, The Netherlands Complex Photonics Systems, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, The Netherlands

High-efficiency, large-bandwidth silicon-on-insulator grating coupler based on a fully-etched photonic crystal structure

A grating coupler for interfacing between single-mode fibers and photonic circuits on silicon-on-insulator is demonstrated. It consists of columns of fully etched photonic crystal holes, which are made in the same lithography and etching processes used for making the silicon-on-insulator wire waveguide. The holes have a diameter of around 143 nm, and are defined with electron-beam lithography. A peak coupling efficiency of 42% at 1550 nm and 1 dB bandwidth of 37 nm, as well as a low back reflection, are achieved. The performance of the proposed fully etched grating coupler is comparable to that based on the conventional shallowly etched grating, which needs additional fabrication steps.

Low-jitter and high-power 40-GHz all-active mode-locked lasers

A novel design strategy for the epitaxial structure of monolithic mode-locked semiconductor lasers is presented. Using an all-active design, we fabricate 40-GHz lasers generating 2.8-ps almost chirp-free pulses with record low high-frequency jitter and more than 7-mW fiber coupled output power.

Time-resolved optical characterization of InAs/InGaAs quantum dots emitting at 1.3 μm

We present the time-resolved optical characterization of InAs/InGaAs self-assembledquantum dots emitting at 1.3 μm at room temperature. The photoluminescence decay time varies from 1.2 (5 K) to 1.8 ns (293 K). Evidence of thermalization among dots is seen in both continuous-wave and time-resolved spectra around 150 K. A short rise time of 10±2 ps is measured, indicating a fast capture and relaxation of carriers inside the dots.

Oxidation of hydrogen-passivated silicon surfaces by scanning near-field optical lithography using uncoated and aluminum-coated fiber probes

Optically induced oxidation of hydrogen-passivated siliconsurfaces using a scanning near-field optical microscope was achieved with both uncoated and aluminum-coated fiber probes. Line scans on amorphous silicon using uncoated fiber probes display a three-peak profile after etching in potassium hydroxide. Numerical simulations of the electromagnetic field around the probe–sample interaction region are used to explain the experimental observations. With an aluminum-coated fiber probe, lines of 35 nm in width were transferred into the amorphous silicon layer.

Efficient and compact TE–TM polarization converter built on silicon-on-insulator platform with a simple fabrication process

An efficient TE-TM polarization converter built on a silicon-on-insulator nanophotonic platform is demonstrated. The strong cross-polarization coupling effect in air-cladded photonic-wire waveguides is employed to realize the conversion. A peak TE-TM coupling efficiency of 87% (-0.6 dB insertion loss) is measured experimentally. A polarization conversion efficiency of >92% with an overall insertion loss of <-1.6 dB is obtained in a wavelength range of 40 nm. The proposed device is compact, with a total length of 44 μm and can be fabricated with one lithography and etching step.

Ultra-high-speed wavelength conversion in a silicon photonic chip

We have successfully demonstrated all-optical wavelength conversion of a 640-Gbit/s line-rate return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying (RZ-DPSK) signal based on low-power four wave mixing (FWM) in a silicon photonic chip with a switching energy of only ~110 fJ/bit. The waveguide dispersion of the silicon nanowire is nano-engineered to optimize phase matching for FWM and the switching power used for the signal processing is low enough to reduce nonlinear absorption from two-photon-absorption (TPA). These results demonstrate that high-speed wavelength conversion is achievable in silicon chips with high data integrity and indicate that high-speed operation can be obtained at moderate power levels where nonlinear absorption due to TPA and free-carrier absorption (FCA) is not detrimental. This demonstration can potentially enable high-speed optical networks on a silicon photonic chip.