Direct integration of microtube lasers on silicon

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There is a very high demand for semiconductor lasers that can be integrated directly with silicon integrated circuits. These devices will be required to have very low power dissipation, should be low cost, reliable and be tolerant of large variations in operating temperature. The application of these devices will be in future telecommunications and computing systems, including server farms, network hubs and eventually in personal computers and personal multimedia entertainment systems. The integrated semiconductor lasers will allow direct connection to high bandwidth optical fibre data links. To date none of the candidate technologies that has been investigated has proved to be ideal. In this project we propose to investigate the integration of our recently demonstrated freestanding InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) microtube coherent light sources directly on silicon, in order to develop electrically modulated lasers. These devices have many attractive properties, including ultralow threshold currents, and simple fabrication. This technology also has the potential to deliver tunable lasers for applications in either dense or coarse wavelength division multiplexing systems. This project represents a collaboration between three academic researchers with complementary skill sets and backgrounds, and a Canadian start-up company, Reflex Photonics, which is leading the development of low cost, parallel optical data link technology. The project will also involve the collaboration of a leading international expert in silicon photonics (M.Lipson of Cornell University). The project will provide hands-on training to seven graduate students and nine undergraduate students in a field which is of significant strategic importance to Canada.