New Publication in Photonics Research journal
A new paper titled “Micro-transfer printing of O-band InAs/GaAs quantum-dot SOAs on silicon photonic integrated circuits” has been published in Photonics Research and recognized as an Editor’s Pick. The article results were obtained in collaboration with Photonics Research Group (Ghent University - imec), EV Group and IDLab (UGent - UAntwerpen - imec) within the CALADAN EU Project (825453).
The article demonstrated the development of prefabricated, standardized InAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) active devices optimized for micro-transfer printing, which were successfully integrated onto silicon photonic (SiPh) integrated circuits. Through precise transfer-printing onto predefined regions of the SiPh chip, the realization of O-band semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, and widely tunable lasers (TLs) was achieved. This approach enables efficient light coupling between silicon waveguides and III–V active materials, while preserving CMOS-compatible processing.
Key achievements demonstrated:
- Efficient optical coupling between silicon waveguides and QD-based SOAs, with on-chip gain reaching 7.5 dB at 1299 nm;
- Integrated DFB lasers delivering up to 19.7 mW waveguide-coupled output power, with an SMSR of 33.3 dB and error-free 30 Gbps transmission without isolators;
- Widely tunable lasers with a tuning range exceeding 35 nm and output power above 3 mW.
The results confirm that QD-based active material is highly suitable for integration with silicon photonics. This advancement opens the door to scalable, energy-efficient, and high-speed silicon photonic systems, which are essential for next-generation optical interconnects.
