A combination of high operation temperatures and small sizes of diode lasers directly grown on silicon substrates is essential for their application in future photonic integrated circuits. In this work, we report on electrically-pumped III-V microdisk lasers monolithically grown on Si substrates with active regions of two kinds: either an InGaAs/GaAs quantum well (QW) or InAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). Microdisk resonators were defined using photolithography and plasma chemical etching. The active region diameter was varied from 11 to 31 µm. Microlasers were tested without external cooling at room and elevated temperatures.
The QW laser structure was epitaxially grown by MOCVD on silicon (100) with an intermediate MBE-grown Ge buffer. Under pulsed injection (0.5-µs-long injection pulses with 150 Hz repetition rate), lasing is achieved in QW microlasers with diameters of 23-31 µm with a minimal threshold current density of 28 kA/cm^2. Quasi-single mode lasing (SMSR is up to 20 dB) is observed with emission wavelength around 988 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first quantum well electrically-pumped microdisk lasers monolithically deposited on (001)-oriented Si substrate. Quantum wells are typically characterized by high optical gain and high direct modulation bandwidth, which can be important in view of further miniaturization of microlasers and their future application. The sidewall passivation can be helpful to reduce the threshold current.
As compared to QWs, quantum dots demonstrate reduced sensitivity to threading dislocations and other crystalline defects as well as to sidewall recombination owing to a suppressed lateral transport of charge carriers which prevents their diffusion towards non-radiate recombination centers. The QD laser structure was directly grown by MBE on Si (001) substrate with 4° offcut to the [011] plane. QD microlasers were tested at room temperature in CW regime with a DC current varied from 0 to 50 mA and at elevated temperatures under CW and pulsed excitation (0.5-µs-long injection pulses with 10 kHz repetition rate). The InAs/InGaAs QDs active region provides the wavelengths in the 1.32–1.35 µm spectral interval. At room temperature, lasing is achieved in microlasers with diameters of 14-30 µm with a minimal threshold current density of 600 A/cm2 (compare with that of 427 A/cm2 in edge-emitting laser). The threshold current density and specific thermal resistance of 0.004 °C×cm^2/mW are comparable to those of high-quality QD microdisk lasers on GaAs substrates. Lasing wavelength demonstrates low sensitivity to current-induced self-heating. Lasing is single mode (SMSR 20 dB) with a dominant mode linewidth as narrow as 30 pm. Under CW excitation lasing sustains up to 60 °C in microlasers with diameter of 30 µm. Because of self-heating, an actual temperature of the active region is close to 100°C. Under pulsed excitation, the maximal lasing temperature is 110°C. To our best knowledge, these are the smallest microlasers on silicon operating at such elevated temperatures ever reported. Up to 90°C lasing proceeds on the ground state optical transition of QDs with wavelength about 1.35 µm. At higher temperatures, lasing wavelength jumps to the excited state transition.
We present a study of resonant optical properties of paired silver hemispheroids grown on a glass substrate using out-diffusion technique combined with thermal poling of the glass. Atomic force microscopy was used to characterize the morphology of the grown nanostructures. Dark-field spectroscopy and numerical simulation were applied to study the optical properties of the coupled nanoparticles (NPs) depending on the interparticle gap and size difference of the hemispheroids in a pair. Raman spectroscopy testing of the coupled hemispherical NPs showed that they can provide signal enhancement factor exceeding one of a single hemispherical NP.
Inorganic glass is material having nanoscaled physical and chemical inhomogeneities ad initio because glass inherits
thermodynamic fluctuations of concentration, density and anisotropy of a glass forming melt. Combining light scattering
and high temperature acoustics data allows to use the effect of internal immersion for designing multicomponent glasses
with Rayleigh scattering losses lower than those of the silica glass. Non-random spatial distribution of dopants including
rare-earth (RE) ions in a glass host (doped ion segregation) causes excessive Rayleigh scattering losses and enhancement
of RE ion-ion interaction. Therefore, it opens the way to optimize operation parameters of laser and up-converting
glasses by the proper choice of glass host composition. Results of Raman scattering spectra processing and
characterization of electrooptical (EO) sensitivity of niobate glasses showed the existence of groups with stoichiometry
of the well-known EO crystals and crystal-like orderliness (crystal motifs) in the glasses as the necessary condition of
high EO sensitivity. It was found that EO sensitivity of glasses could be essentially increased by thermal treatment.
Pump-probe femtosecond transmission measurements in the vicinity of the first excitonic resonance are performed in a silicate glass embedded with Cd-S-Se semiconductor nanoparticles. In the experiment, the pump at 400 nm (duration 50 fs, energy up to 0.1 mJ) excites the sample, while the change of the optical absorption is probed by femtosecond continuum. The time-resolved spectrum of the absorption change in the wavelength range 450-650 nm is visualized using a two-channel imaging spectrometer. A strong optical nonlinearity of the glass containing Cd-S-Se nanoparticles results in the up to 50% bleaching of the first excitonic resonance via the depopulating of the ground state. The temporal evolution of the bleaching consists of fast (with relaxation time as small as 3 ps) and slow (>15 ps) components. The dependence of the nonlinear absorption on the detuning of the pump and probe wavelengths with respect to the exciton resonance is evaluated.
A couple of multicomponent glasses was used to produce solid hole-free photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with high contrast
of index. These glasses were a high index barium-lanthanum flint-glass (n~1.8) and a low index cron-glass (n~1.5). The
compositions of selected glasses provided the coincidence of their viscosities in the temperature range of drawing, close
thermal expansion coefficients, and chemical compatibility. To produce the PCF densely packed bundles of glass rods
(elements) of 1 mm diameter assembled in a given structures were multiply co-drawn down to 0.2-2.0 microns diameter
of a single element. This procedure allowed scaling of initial structures and resulted in two PCF structures: axially
symmetrical eight-period structure and five-period "birefringent" structure. Optical transmission of the resultant PCF
demonstrates the existence of photonic band-gaps, and intensity distribution of propagating mode corresponds to the
results of numerical simulation performed.
Diffusion of hydrogen in metal-doped glasses leads to the reduction of metals and to the growth of metallic nanoparticles
in the glass body that allows the formation of metamaterials. The nanoparticles grow due to the supersaturation of the
glass matrix by neutral metals, whose solubility in glasses is low compared to initial concentration of metal ions. In some
cases, these metallic nanoparticles are self-arranging to quasi-periodic layered structure. A theoretical analysis of the
reactive hydrogen diffusion accompanied by the interdiffusion of protons, metallic ions and neutral metals allowed us to
study the temporal evolution of the average size of the metallic nanoparticles and their spatial distribution. The
developed model of the formation of metallic nanoparticles defines range of parameters providing the formation of
layered structures of metallic inclusions in silver and copper doped glasses. The layered structure arises at relatively low
supersaturation of the diffusion zone by a neutral metal as the result of the competition of the enrichment of the glass by
neutral metal atoms via reducing of metal ions by diffusing hydrogen and the depletion of the glass by the metal atoms
caused by their diffusion to the nanoparticles. The results of numerical calculations are compared with the data of optical
spectroscopy of the glass-metal metamaterials containing silver and copper nanoparticles.
PbS-quantum dot-doped glasses have been demonstrated as saturable absorber Q-switches for 2-pm holmium lasers. Q-switched pulses of 50 ns in duration, 2.4 mJ in energy from a Cr,Tm,Ho:Y3Sc2A13012 laser at 2092 nm and Q-switched pulses with 70 ns in duration, 4.5 mJ in energy from a Cr,Tm,Ho:Y3A15012 laser at 2097 nm are obtained.
Saturable absorbers on the base of lead sulfide QDs for lasers emitting at 1, 1.3, 1.5, 2.1 microns are introduced and characterized. It is demonstrated that these SAs can be used both for mode-locking and Q-switching of near IR lasers.
Narrowly size distributed PbSe quantum dots were fabricated in phosphate glasses doped with PbO+ZnSe and PbSe by thermal treatment. Absorption spectra in 3 µm range are studied for the first time. Non-linear absorption of the samples near 1.54 μm is studied.
Er- and Sm-doped sodium-niobium phosphate glasses have been produced by melting technique. Their optical and spectroscopic properties have been fully characterized. Fluorescence lifetimes of the metastable states of Er3+ and Sm3+ ions are long enough to make these glasses suitable to be used in optical amplification devices. Waveguides have been produced by diluted Ag+/Na+ ion exchange and their properties are also described.
A niobium-lithium-silicate glass demonstrating a record Kerr coefficient (266•10-16 m/V2) has been formed, and transparent glass-ceramics demonstrating Kerr coefficients exceeding 6000•10-16 m/V2 has been elaborated. A conception of the origin of electrooptical sensitivity of glasses is developed. It supposes that the fluctuation microinhomogeneities peculiar to as-prepared glasses are the regions with exact crystalline symmetry, and that just those regions are the pre-nuclei of the crystallites, which form in glass-ceramics in heat treatment. Having the composition and the symmetry of electrooptical ferroelectric crystal, these regions appear to condition high Kerr sensitivities of both the glasses and the glass-ceramics formed from these glasses.
A simple technique to form glass microresonators is proposed and used to make microresonators of samarium-doped phosphate glass. Measured in the vicinity of 4G5/2 - 6H7/2 transition of Sm3+ ion photoluminescence spectra of the microresonators gave the value of Q-factor approximately 6000.
Saturable absorber Q switching of the cw diode-pumped Nd3+:KGd(WO4)2 and Nd3+:YVO4 lasers at 1.3 μm with PbS Quantum Dots (QDs) doped phosphate glass is demonstrated and compared. Q-switched pulses of minimum 110 ns in duration and maximum average output power of 14 mW were obtained. The bleaching decay time of the PbS-doped samples was measured and found to decrease with QDs size decreasing due to enhancement of the quantum confinement effect for smaller QDs.
Direct laser recording of two-dimensional and three-dimensional periodic structures in a glass containing nanocrystalline Ag clusters is demonstrated. The Ag-doped glasses were irradiated by the third harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser (354 nm) with pulse duration of 7 ns and 10 Hz repetition rate, and fluences which varied from 0.2 fto 1.2 J/cm2. Four intersecting beams of equal intensity were used to create an intensity-modulated pattern at the glass surface and the fifth beam was used to obtain intensity modulation in the bulk. The resultant gratings written in the glass as well as the kinetics of the laser-induced evolution of the Ag clusters were studied by AFM and optical microscopy. Under illumination the nanocrystals move rapidly toward the surface and towards one another, agglomerate and coalesce. The mechanisms and kinetics of light induced mass transfer occurring during recording are analyzed. The kinetics of cluster motion is estimated.
Diode-pumped 1.3μm Nd:YVO4 and Nd:KGd(WO4)2 lasers passively Q-switched with the PbS- and PbSe-doped phosphate glasses were demonstrated. Pulses of 110 ns in duration for both types of materials and average output power of 23 mW from Nd:YVO4 laser were obtained. Absorption recovery time of the PbS-doped glass was measured to be 27±4 ps. Numerical simulations of lasers operation were presented and analysis for more efficient use of PbS- and PbSe-doped glasses as passive shutters for diode-pumped lasers was made.
Structure of R2O - R'2O - SiO2 - Nb2O5, R2O - R'2O - GeO2 - Nb2O5, R2O - R'2O - P2O5 - Nb2O5 (R, R' = Li, Na, K) glasses were studied by means of Raman scattering and Rayleigh and Mandel's shtam-Brillouin scattering spectroscopy. The Kerr coefficient was measured as a function of glass composition. Microinhomogeneities responsible for Rayleigh scattering losses and electro-optical properties were found on the base of light scattering spectra processing. Comparison of alkali niobate glasses with various glass formers showed that optimum combination of high Kerr coefficient and low Rayleigh scattering losses may be achieved for alkali niobate phosphate glasses.
Bleaching relaxation in PbS-quantum-dots-doped phosphate glasses in dependence on the dot size is presented. The fast bleaching decay component is increased from 14 to 93 ps as the dot size increased from 4.7 to 5.8 nm. The glasses are employed as saturable absorbers for mode-locking and Q-switching of 1.3 µm neodymium lasers. Q-switched pulses of 120 ns (0.1 µJ) in duration (energy) and the average output power of 3 mW from diode-pumped Nd3+:KGW laser and ultrashort pulses of maximum 250 µJ in energy and 150 ps in duration from a Nd3+:YAP laser were obtained.
A simple technique to form glass microresonators is proposed and used to make microresonators of samarium-doped phosphate glass. Measured in the vicinity of 4G5/2 - 6H7/2 transition of Sm3+ ion photoluminescence spectra of the microresonators gave the value of Q-factor approximately 6000. This exceeds the Q-factor of glass microspeherts made with conventional flyway technique.
Intensity dependent transmission and excited state relaxation measurements of PbS and PbSe quantum dots in silicate and phosphate glasses and their applications for mode-locking of Nd:YAG laser at 1.064 micrometers as well as for Q-switching of Nd:KGW at 1.067 micrometers and 1.35 micrometers and Er:glass at 1.54 micrometers lasers with diode and flash-lamp pumping are presented.
Er-doped sodium-niobium phosphate glasses have been produced by the melting technique. Their optical properties have been fully characterized and show a broad fluorescence band around 1.5 micrometers . The fluorescence lifetime of the 4I13/2 metastable state is long enough to make these glasses suitable to be used in optical ampl9ification devices. Waveguides have been produced by diluted Ag+/Na+ ion exchange and their properties are described here.
Roman Kurunov, Anatoly Malkov, Vladimir Smirnov, A. Pavlenko, N. Ivanov, A. Lipovsky, M. Korolkov, N. Magazenkov, U. Stoliarov, M. Filimonov, Boris Yatsenko
The mechanical stresses in the lens material originated from the atmospheric pressure effect produce additional phase distortions of the light wave and the outflow of a part of the light energy to the orthogonal polarization through the stress-optical effect mechanism. We used the two-step algorithm is the stress analysis of the lens, the second- optical calculations using the strain field obtained on the first step. The obtained results show that in case of the lens tight fixing the phase and polarization distortions lie within acceptable limits.
Saturable absorber Q-switching of HO(superscript 3+:Y3Al5O12 laser at 2.1 micrometers using PbSe-doped phosphate glass was demonstrated. Q-switched pulses of 22 mJ in energy and 85 ns in duration were obtained. Temperature dependence of luminescence spectra of phosphate glasses doped with PbSe Qds of different sizes was analyzed.
The results of studying the electro-optical sensitivity of industrial glasses are presented, and it is shown that Kerr constant, B, of them does not exceed 10-15 m/V2. An approach to the choice of compositions of the glasses of high Kerr sensitivity is developed, and experimental sodium- niobium-silicate glasses with B > 10-14 m/V2 have been designed and formed. The approach is based on the hypothesis of 'crystalline motifs' (structural inhomogenities responsible for electro-optical sensitivity of the glasses), which are the ordered regions (several coordination spheres) with the crystal-like structure. When heat-treated the designed glasses crystallize, with the phase precipitated being NaNbO3 microcrystals. Temporal-thermal conditions of the glass crystallization to form a transparent glass-ceramics with B approximately equal 10-12 m/V2 have been found. It has been also shown that such glass-ceramics can be produced by high-temperature alkaline ion exchange. A low- temperature silver ion exchange in the designed glasses and glass-ceramics has been studied and optical waveguides supporting from 1 to 50 modes have been formed. In these waveguides the index variation equal to 0.15 is achieved.
Photoluminescence and picosecond differential absorption spectra measurements of the CdSe quantum dots embedded in phosphate glass are reported. The dots are in the strong quantum confined regime (the mean particle radius, 2.9 nm). The photoluminescence spectra are observed to depend on excitation intensity: increasing of excitation leads to appearing of a new luminescence peak. The differential absorption spectra show bleaching accompanied by time- delayed induced absorption on the high energy side.
Usage of novel high optical quality phosphate glass allows us to produce CdS and CdSe quantum dots with high monodispersity. Thermal processing of the glass leads to growth of formed quantum dots. Complicated structure of optical absorption spectra is observed, and preliminary identification of quantum electron-hole transitions is proposed.
A novel high optical quality phosphate glass allowing doping with nanocrystals of CdS, CdSe, CdSxSe1-x solid solutions, CdTe and PbSe has been synthesized and studied. Thermal processing of the glass gives a possibility to vary both size and size distribution of the nanocrystals. High concentration of the semiconductors in the design glass provides observation of optical absorption peaks corresponding to nucleation of crystalline grains. Complicated structure of optical absorption spectra and multiple peaks related to different quantum transitions are also demonstrated for all doped glasses.
Zinc-boron-silicate glass doped with cadmium sulfide-selenide was synthesized, and arising and growth of Cd-S-Se microcrystals in the glass matrix under annealing was studied. The annealing dependant shift of absorption edge of the glass samples was demonstrated. Transmission electron microscopy proved that quantum confinement effect was an origin of the shifts. Growth of the microcrystals was followed by increase of their dispersion. Also the growth led to transformation of structure of the microcrystals from cubical to hexagonal. Cesium-potassium ion exchange in the SDG was applied to optical waveguides formation. Differences of the alkaline ion profiles in the glass samples annealed differently were observed.
Ion-exchanged KTiOPO4 (KTP) planar optical waveguides are formed in X, Y, and Z cuts of KTP single crystals with Rb+ -> K+, Cs+ -> K+, and Ag+ -> K+ ion exchanges from nitrate melts. Waveguide modes, index profiles, and birefringence of the waveguides are studied with the integrated optics technique. Electron probe microanalysis is applied to determine an elemental composition of the ion-exchanged structures and x-ray diffractometry is used to study crystalline structure of the waveguides. The research enabled us to produce KTP optical waveguides by silver ion diffusion for the first time. In addition, the residual potassium concentrations after the ion exchange are measured and the distribution profiles of Cs and Rb atoms and positions of the atoms in the KTP lattice are characterized. A study of the unit cell deformations accompanied by birefringence measurements enabled us to clarify differences in Rb+ -> K+ and Cs+ -> K+ ion exchanges. A novel approach that would produce a KTP optical waveguide with higher index increase and better crystalline perfection than Rb+ -> K+ and Cs+ -> K+ ion exchanges is proposed.
Phosphate glass doped at 0.2% was synthesized. Transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction study demonstrated microcrystals arising in the glass matrix, their growth up to 10 nm, and gave evidence of hexagonal structure of the microcrystals. Distances between crystalline planes of the crystals are same as distances for hexagonal CdS crystals. Annealing conditions necessary for the microcrystals growth (350 to 370 degree(s)C, 15 to 75 min duration) are very soft in comparison with standard annealing conditions for silicate semiconductor doped glasses. Quantum size phenomenon (shift of absorption edge with increasing of microcrystals) was observed in the glass designed.
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