Flat metaoptics devices are paving a path towards compact and integrated photonics solutions. Composed of engineered subwavelength nanostructures, they offer freedom to shape light and alleviate alignment constraints compared to traditional optics. Utilizing conventional nanofabrication methods, their potential amplifies when combined with on-chip light sources and detectors. In our study, we introduce laser-integrated dielectric metasurfaces tailored for biophotonics applications. Our goal was to sculpt the emission of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers by directly fabricating metasurfaces on their emitting facets. Employing unique curved GaAs metagratings, we bypass aspect ratio-dependent etching issues, achieving fan-shaped emission with a ~60° off-axis deflection in both air and glass, with deflection efficiencies of 90% and 70%, respectively. We demonstrate proof-of-principle total internal reflectance and dark field imaging of Au nanoparticles and cells incubated with them. Our illumination module allows effortless toggling between these modes and, since the laser chip is outside the field of view, it is fully compatible with conventional microscopy setups.
Recent advancements in the integration of flat metaoptic components with light sources and detectors have created exciting possibilities for developing compact optical measurement devices. We have demonstrated monolithic integration of curved GaAs metagratings on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), creating an ultra-compact illumination module for both total internal reflection and dark field microscopy techniques. Based on an unconventional design that circumvents the aspect ratio-dependent etching problems associated with monolithic integration, our integrated metagratings VCSELs generate a quasi-collimated off-axis beam centered at 60° in air and 63° in glass and achieves relative deflection efficiencies of 90% and 70%, respectively.
The fully epitaxial integration of IR laser sources into modern photonic circuits built on Si or SOI wafers is severely limited by the thermal- and lattice-constant mismatch between the substrate and the III-V layers that are required to achieve efficient solid-state lasing in the near infrared range. To overcome these limitations, modern commercially-available SiPh technologies employ selective wafer/device bonding techniques that allow to separately grow the III-V emitter and to integrate it into the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) at a later processing stage. Conversely, state-of-the-art devices leverage InAs quantum-dot (QD)-based active regions to highly reduce the sensitivity of the laser diode to the presence of the extended defects, which are generated as a consequence of the heteroepitaxial growth. In term of reliability, high levels of maturity have been demonstrated by both types of sources, either on the field or at laboratory level. Despite this, several degradation mechanisms still affect the long-term operation of such devices, thus limiting their useful lifetime. The aim of this paper is to discuss on the dominant degradation processes related to integrated laser sources for silicon photonics. This goal is achieved by summarizing some of the most recent results that have been obtained on two different, but well representative, classes of solid-state lasers: heterogeneously integrated quantum well (QW)-based emitters, such as vertical-cavity silicon-integrated lasers (VCSILs) emitting at 945 nm and III-V 1.55 m lasers bonded on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, and InAs QD laser diodes (LDs) epitaxially-grown on silicon, emitting in the 1.31 m window.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.