A special issue on Information Optoelectronics: Devices, Technologies and Applications

Abstract

Information technology has entered a big-data era. The every-increasing data traffic has driven the rapid development of information optoelectronics, which is related to key devices, crucial technologies, and important applications for the generation, transmission, processing, and detection of optical data information. Recent progresses on devices, technologies and applications of information optoelectronics have led to reduced footprint, improved efficiency, enhanced flexibility and extended functionality generating, delivering/manipulating, and detecting optical data information. Lots of integrated photonic devices, such as silicon-, grapheneand plasmonassisted waveguides, lasers, modulators and detectors, speciality optical fiber, and coherent optical communications, have been widely reported, showing significant advances in devices, technologies and applications of information optoelectronics. It is believed that information optoelectronics will continue its rapid development towards integrated nanophotonic devices, more advanced technologies, flexible and multi-functional applications. It is our intention to draw great attention of the research community to those hot topics in devices, technologies and applications of information optoelectronics. In this “Special Issue on Information Optoelectronics: Devices, Technologies and Applications”, we present 8 review articles and 4 research articles focusing on relevant subjects by internationally active groups in the related fields. In the review articles, Dr. Sudharsanan Srinivasan at University of California, Santa Barbara reviewed recent results on hybrid silicon mode-locked lasers focusing on low phase noise optical pulse generation. Key results included demonstration of the longest (cavity length 9 cm) integrated on-chip mode locked laser, 14 dB reduction of Lorentzian noise on a 20 GHz radio-frequency (RF) signal, and greater than 55 dB optical supermode noise suppression using harmonically mode locked long cavity laser, 10 GHz passively mode locked laser with 15 kHz linewidth using on-chip all optical feedback stabilization. Dr. Ran Hao at Zhejiang University reviewed recent developments of graphene-based optical modulators, including material property, different integration schemes, single-layer graphene-based modulator, multi-layer and few-layer graphene-based modulators, corresponding figure-of-merits, wavelength/temperature tolerance, and graphene-based fiber-optic modulator. Dr. Lai Wang at Tsinghua University reviewed recent progresses on InGaN quantum dot (QD) light emitting diodes (LEDs), including the basic physics model of the strain relaxation in self-assembled InGaN QDs, the growth of InGaN QDs with a growth interruption method by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy, the optimization of GaN barrier growth in multilayer InGaN QDs, and the green, yellow-green and red InGaN QD LEDs. Dr. Xiaowei Guan and Dr. Daoxin Dai at Zhejiang University reviewed progresses on various hybrid plasmonic waveguides as well as ultrasmall functionality devices. Ultra-sharp bending of silicon hybrid nanoplasmonic waveguides, optical couplers/splitters, ultrasmall resonators, and polarization handing devices were discussed. Dr. Jian Wang at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology reviewed recent progress on plasmon-assisted nanophotonic devices and their wide applications, including long-range hybrid plasmonic slot (LRHPS) waveguide, ultra-compact plasmonic microresonator with efficient thermo-optic tuning, high quality (Q) factor and small mode volume, compact active hybrid plasmonic ring resonator for deep-subwavelength lasing