Hybrid indium phosphide-on-silicon nanolaser diode

Abstract

By exploiting one-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavities, an ultra-compact indium phosphide-on-silicon laser diode with low current threshold, high wall-plug efficiency and high integrability is demonstrated. The most-awaited convergence of microelectronics and photonics promises to bring about a revolution for on-chip data communications and processing1. Among all the optoelectronic devices to be developed, power-efficient nanolaser diodes able to be integrated densely with silicon photonics and electronics are essential to convert electrical data into the optical domain. Here, we report a demonstration of ultracompact laser diodes based on one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavities2,3,4 made in InP nanoribs heterogeneously integrated on a silicon-waveguide circuitry. The specific nanorib design enables an efficient electrical injection of carriers in the nanocavity without spoiling its optical properties. Room-temperature continuous-wave (CW) single-mode operation is obtained with a low current threshold of 100 µA. Laser emission at 1.56 µm in the silicon waveguides is obtained with wall-plug efficiencies greater than 10%. This result opens up exciting avenues for constructing optical networks at the submillimetre scale for on-chip interconnects and signal processing.