Interband Cascade Photonic Integrated Circuits on Native III-V Chip

We describe how a midwave infrared photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that combines lasers, detectors, passive waveguides, and other optical elements may be constructed on the native GaSb substrate of an interband cascade laser (ICL) structure. The active and passive building blocks may be used, for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-01, Vol.21 (2), p.599
Main Authors: Meyer, Jerry R, Kim, Chul Soo, Kim, Mijin, Canedy, Chadwick L, Merritt, Charles D, Bewley, William W, Vurgaftman, Igor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Cascade lasers
chemical sensing
Configurations
Feedback
Gallium antimonides
Group III-V semiconductors
Integrated circuits
interband cascade laser
Lasers
midwave infrared
Optical components
photonic integrated circuit
Photonics
Process controls
Semiconductors
Sensors
Silicon
Waveguides
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Summary:We describe how a midwave infrared photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that combines lasers, detectors, passive waveguides, and other optical elements may be constructed on the native GaSb substrate of an interband cascade laser (ICL) structure. The active and passive building blocks may be used, for example, to fabricate an on-chip chemical detection system with a passive sensing waveguide that evanescently couples to an ambient sample gas. A variety of highly compact architectures are described, some of which incorporate both the sensing waveguide and detector into a laser cavity defined by two high-reflectivity cleaved facets. We also describe an edge-emitting laser configuration that optimizes stability by minimizing parasitic feedback from external optical elements, and which can potentially operate with lower drive power than any mid-IR laser now available. While ICL-based PICs processed on GaSb serve to illustrate the various configurations, many of the proposed concepts apply equally to quantum-cascade-laser (QCL)-based PICs processed on InP, and PICs that integrate III-V lasers and detectors on silicon. With mature processing, it should become possible to mass-produce hundreds of individual PICs on the same chip which, when singulated, will realize chemical sensing by an extremely compact and inexpensive package.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s21020599