Direct evidence of light confinement and emission enhancement in active silicon-on-insulator slot waveguides

Galli, Matteo, Gerace, D., Politi, Alberto, Liscidini, M., Patrini, Maddalena, Andreani, Lucio C., Canino, A., Miritello, M., Savio, R. Lo, Irrera, A. and Priolo, F. (2006) Direct evidence of light confinement and emission enhancement in active silicon-on-insulator slot waveguides. Applied Physics Letters, 89 (24), 241114-1-241114-4. (doi:10.1063/1.2404936).

Abstract

The authors experimentally demonstrate strong light confinement and enhancement of emission at 1.54?m in planar silicon-on-insulator waveguides containing a thin layer (slot) of SiO2 with Er3+doped Si nanoclusters. Angle-resolved attenuated total reflectance is used to excite the slab guided modes, giving a direct evidence of the strong confinement of the electric field in the low-index active material for the fundamental transverse-magnetic mode. By measuring the guided photoluminescence from the cleaved-edge of the sample, the authors observe a more than fivefold enhancement of emission for the transverse-magnetic mode over the transverse-electric one. These results show that Si-based slot waveguides could be important as starting templates for the realization of Si-compatible active optical devices.

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Contributors

Author: Alberto Politi

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