Integrated Rare Earth Lasers for Silicon Photonics

激光和光子设备在许多关键方面影响了我们的生活，包括使高速光波信号成为互联网的燃料。现在，经过几十年的研究，所谓的“硅光子学”有望通过降低成本、提高性能和可扩展性来显著促进互联网和数据通信。硅光电子(SiP)利用现有数十亿美元的微电子制造基础设施，提供高度紧凑、廉价和节能的集成光电微系统。由于其在高速光电数据网络中的应用日益广泛，预计在未来十年内，sip市场将增长到数十亿美元。此外，sip有望在传感、成像、测距、医疗以及先进的军事和空间应用中无处不在。硅和与SiP兼容的材料(即那些可以单片集成在硅芯片上的材料，例如氮化硅和锗)在光电子电路中提供了许多所需的功能，包括信号传输、切换、调制、滤波、多路复用和检测。然而，人们很早就认识到硅是一种低效的发光材料。目前，Sip微系统依靠芯片外激光器或将昂贵的材料粘合到硅上来传输光。高效的片内、单片和可扩展光源将对SiP的未来应用产生巨大影响。*在这个研究项目中，我们将开发新型发光稀土掺杂光子材料和第一个用于硅光子学的全集成稀土激光器。SiP稀土激光器的优点除了低成本和单片制造外，还包括功率高、体积小、温度不敏感、高稳定性、发射波长范围宽以及在重要的通信和传感窗口中的波长可调谐。通过将基于这些低成本材料的激光器集成到晶片规模的硅工艺中，我们将提高其可扩展性，并打开sip MicroSystems的全新功能，这些功能目前使用更昂贵或更笨重的光学平台来执行。这项研究将导致对高素质人才(HQP)的专业化培训，对不断增长的sip行业和信息技术产生重大影响，并提高加拿大整体的高科技专业知识。通过在加拿大开发激光器，我们将继续保持加拿大在先进通信和光电子技术方面的领先地位。我们将在先进的sip微系统中实施这些方法和设备，用于通信、传感和新兴应用，以满足社会日益增长的信息和技术需求。

Lasers and photonic devices have influenced our lives in many critical ways, including enabling the high speed lightwave signals that fuel the internet. Now, after decades of research, so-called “silicon photonics” is poised to significantly advance internet and data communication through decreased cost and increased performance and scalability. Silicon photonics (SiP) leverages the existing multi-billion-dollar microelectronics fabrication infrastructure to provide highly compact, inexpensive, and energy-efficient integrated optoelectronic microsystems. As a result of its growing application in high-speed optoelectronic data networks, the SiP market is expected to increase to several $B in the next decade. Further, SiP promises to be ubiquitous in sensing, imaging, ranging, medical, and advanced military and space applications.*** Nevertheless, one of the key missing elements in SiP systems remains a monolithic laser. Silicon and SiP-compatible materials (i.e. those which can be monolithically integrated on silicon chips such as silicon nitride and germanium) provide many of the required functions in optoelectronic circuits, including signal transmission, switching, modulation, filtering, multiplexing, and detection. However, it has long been recognized that silicon is an inefficient light emitter. Currently SiP microsystems rely on off-chip lasers or bonding costly materials to silicon to deliver light. An efficient on-chip, monolithic, and scalable light source will have an enormous impact on future applications of SiP.*** In this research project we will develop new light-emitting rare-earth-doped photonic materials and the first fully-integrated rare earth lasers for silicon photonics. Advantages of SiP rare earth lasers, in addition to their low cost and monolithic fabrication, include their high powers, compact size, temperature insensitivity, high stability, and wide range of emission wavelengths and wavelength tunability in important communications and sensing windows. By integrating lasers based on these low-cost materials into wafer-scale silicon processes we will increase their scalability and open entirely new functions of SiP microsystems that are currently performed using more expensive or bulky optical platforms. This research will lead to specialized training of highly qualified people (HQP), have a significant impact on the growing SiP industry and information technology, and enhance overall high-tech expertise in Canada. By developing the lasers in Canada, we will continue Canada's leadership in advanced communications and photonics technologies. We will implement the methods and devices in advanced SiP microsystems for communications, sensing, and emerging applications to meet the growing information and technology needs of society.