Monolithic chalcogenide glass waveguide integrated interband cascaded laser
Hongtao Lin, Chul Soo Kim, Lan Li, Mijin Kim, W. W. Bewley, Charles D. Merritt, C. L. Canedy, I. Vurgaftman, Anu Agarwal, Kathleen Richardson, Juejun Hu, J. R. Meyer
Abstract
Mid-infrared photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that combine on-chip light sources with other optical components constitute a key enabler for applications such as chemical sensing, light detection, ranging, and free-space communications. In this paper, we report the monolithic integration of interband cascade lasers emitting at 3.24 µm with passive, high-index-contrast waveguides made of chalcogenide glasses. Output from the chalcogenide waveguides exhibits pulsed peak power up to 150 mW (without roll-over), threshold current density 280 A/cm 2 , and slope efficiency 100 mW/A at 300 K, with a lower bound of 38% efficiency for coupling between the two waveguides. These results represent an important step toward the realization of fully integrated mid-infrared PICs.