Directional couplers with integrated carbon nanotube incandescent light emitters.

Abstract

We combine on-chip single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) emitters with directional coupling devices as fundamental building blocks for carbon photonic systems. These devices are essential for studying the emission properties of SWNTs in the few photon regime for future applications in on-chip quantum photonics. The combination of SWNTs with on-chip beam splitters herein provides the basis for correlation measurements as necessary for nanoscale source characterization. The employed fabrication methods are fully scalable and thus allow for implementing a multitude of functional and active circuits in a single fabrication run. Our metallic SWNT emitters are broadband and cover both visible and near-infrared wavelengths, thus holding promise for emerging hybrid optoelectronic devices with fast reconfiguration times.