Heterogenously integrated III-V-on-SOI lasers for optical communications

In this presentation, we will present our design strategies adopted to boost the performance of heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-Si quantum well lasers for optical communications. For that, we will revisit our recent work on the co-integration of dual-ring widely tunable lasers with semiconductor optical amplifiers on a silicon photonic platform. Such co-integrated device leverages a compact footprint of 0.5 mm2, a low laser threshold of 10 mA, a high fiber-coupled optical power of 10 dBm and a wide wavelength-tuning span of 45 nm centred in the C-band. Also, we will present a nanosecond-tunable capacitive III-V-on-Si distributed feedback (DFB) laser able to continuously tune its emission wavelength over a 10 GHz span in only 2 ns. For that, we have successfully coupled a III-V-on-Si distributed feedback laser with a MOS capacitor that modulates the effective refractive index of the propagating lasing mode at will, hence tuning its lasing emission wavelength. In addition, we will show our latest results on low-k distributed feedback (DFB) lasers with backside sample gratings, which provide a waveguide-coupled optical power over 20 mW, a wall-plug efficiency of 17% and an intrinsic 3dB bandwidth of 14 GHz, enabling us to obtain open eye diagrams up to 25 Gb/s in Non Return to Zero (NRZ) configuration. Finally, we will comment on the future perspectives of these devices and their potential implementation for optical communications.