Silicon photonics continues to progress tremendously, both in near-infrared datacom/telecoms and in mid-IR optical sensing, despite the fact a monolithically integrated group IV semiconductor laser is still missing. GeSn alloys are one of the most promising candidate materials to realize such devices, as robust lasing under optical pumping was demonstrated by several groups up to mild cryogenic temperatures. Ideally, the integrated lasers should be tunable by design over a wide spectral range, offering a versatility that is required for optical sensing devices. We present here an innovative approach, taking advantage of local strain management in the semiconductor laser’s active zone. Arrays of differently strained Fabry-Pérot GeSn microlasers were fabricated side-by-side on the very same chip after blanket epitaxy on a Ge-buffered silicon-on-insulator substrate. Thanks to the local strain design, laser emission over a very large wavelength range under optical pumping, with laser lines peaking from 3.1 up to 4.6 μm at 25 K and with thresholds lower than 10 kW·cm–2. Laser operation persists up to 273 K, that is, very close to room temperature. This strategy, implemented on group IV semiconductors, opens up a new route to control the emission properties of microlasers integrated on a chip over significant photon energy windows representing a significant step forward in the integration and miniaturization of light sources emitting at a process-defined wavelength.

A white beam microdiffraction setup has been developed on the bending magnet source BM32 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The instrument allows routine submicrometer beam diffraction to perform orientation and strain mapping of polycrystalline samples. The setup features large source to optics distances allowing large demagnification ratios and small beam sizes. The optics of the beamline is used for beam conditioning upstream a secondary source, suppressing any possible interference of beam conditioning on beam size and position. The setup has been designed for an easy and efficient operation with position control tools embedded on the sample stage, a high magnification large aperture optical microscope, and fast readout detectors. Switching from the white beam mode to the monochromatic mode is made easy by an automatic procedure and allows the determination of both the deviatoric and hydrostatic strain tensors.