3-Dimensionally Integrated Nanophotonic Circuits on Si for Terahertz-Speed Chip-Level optical

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At the present time, more than 50-80% of the microprocessor power is consumed by the electrical interconnect, and, as such, data centers utilize nearly 2% of the global electricity. It is therefore of immense interest to replace electrical interconnects with optical counterparts for both intra- and inter-chip connections, which could provide several immediate advantages: ultrahigh bandwidth, ultralow-power consumption, reduced crosstalk, and minimization of heat-dissipation problems. In this project, the authors propose to develop, for the first time in the world, 3-dimensionally integrated nanophotonic circuits consisting of directly modulated quantum dot tube lasers, quantum dot tube photodetectors, and Si waveguides on a Si-platform, that can lead to direct chip-to-network connection at terahertz speed. The authors have recently developed self-organized quantum dot tube nanoscale lasers and further demonstrated that such nanoscale lasers can be monolithically integrated on a Si-platform without any performance degradation. In this project, ultralow power, ultrahigh-speed 1.55 µm quantum dot tube lasers, laser arrays, and photodetectors will be fabricated on Si. Such nanoscale devices will also be designed as frequency comb generators, which can generate up to 40 wavelengths with a mode spacing of ~ 1 - 3 nm. Their applications in parallel optical data link, chip-level wavelength division multiplexing, and sensors will be evaluated. Through these vigorous studies, this project intends to address some of the grand challenges for achieving ultrahigh-speed, ultralow-power photonic functionalities on a CMOS chip, thereby providing a viable approach for the emerging chip-level optical communications.