Uncovering recent progress in nanostructured light-emitters for information and communication technologies

Abstract

Semiconductor nanostructures with low dimensionality like quantum dots and quantum dashes are one of the best attractive and heuristic solutions for achieving high performance photonic devices. When one or more spatial dimensions of the nanocrystal approach the de Broglie wavelength, nanoscale size effects create a spatial quantization of carriers leading to a complete discretization of energy levels along with additional quantum phenomena like entangled-photon generation or squeezed states of light among others. This article reviews our recent findings and prospects on nanostructure based light emitters where active region is made with quantum-dot and quantum-dash nanostructures. Many applications ranging from silicon-based integrated technologies to quantum information systems rely on the utilization of such laser sources. Here, we link the material and fundamental properties with the device physics. For this purpose, spectral linewidth, polarization anisotropy, optical nonlinearities as well as microwave, dynamic and nonlinear properties are closely examined. The paper focuses on photonic devices grown on native substrates (InP and GaAs) as well as those heterogeneously and epitaxially grown on silicon substrate. This research pipelines the most exciting recent innovation developed around light emitters using nanostructures as gain media and highlights the importance of nanotechnologies on industry and society especially for shaping the future information and communication society.

Two Polarization Comb Dynamics in VCSELs Subject to Optical Injection

“…The development of semiconductor laser based frequency combs has been widely motivated by their numerous properties such as low energy consumption, low size and possibility of mass production and on-chip integration. The semiconductor lasers employed for optical comb generation by mode locking include multisection lasers, Vertical Extended-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) [16,18], quantum cascade lasers [19,20] and quantum dot lasers [21,22]. Unfortunately, the repetition rate of the combs based on these systems depend intrinsically of their cavity properties including cavity length and temperature inside the cavity.…”

Solution-processed colloidal quantum dots for light emission

“…This means that quantum dots can emit particles (photon/electrons) of specific energy, making them very suitable for the creation/use of LEDs, lasers, and single-photon emitters (9). The atom-like energy states of QDs determine their unique optical properties (10). These properties include particle sizedependent wavelength of fluorescence, which is useful in making optical probes for biological and medical imaging.…”

“…9 The atom-like energy states of QDs determine their unique optical properties. 10 These properties include particle size-dependent wavelength of fluorescence, which is useful in making optical probes for biological and medical imaging. 11 There are three main groups of QD semiconductors according to the periodic table of the elements, 12 these are groups II-VI, III-V, IV-VI compound semiconductors.…”

“…9 The atom-like energy states of QDs determine their unique optical properties. 10 These properties include particle size-dependent wavelength of fluorescence, which is useful in making optical probes for biological and medical imaging. 11…”

Overtone Spectroscopy for Sensing─Recent Advances and Perspectives

“…It enables chip-scale spectroscopy in a miniaturized, robust, stable, and affordable platform with low power consumption. This method is becoming more and more mature, and enormous progress has been shown for all the building blocks needed for such a type of spectroscopy, for example, light sources, including coherent and narrowband sources, − waveguides, and sensors, , as well as components used to manipulate the light, such as modulators, polarizers, switches, , couplers, beam splitters, and filters. ,, The sensing using the PIC platform can also utilize designs like metamaterials and phenomena like solitons.…”