Toward Mid-Infrared Photonic Integration
Creators: name: Guo, Dingkai
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: Mid-Infrared
Photodetector
Photonic Integration
Quantum Cascade Laser
Semiconductor Laser
Tunable Laser

description: The mid-infrared (Mid-IR) wavelength range is important for applications including medical and security imaging, environmental trace gas sensing and free space communications. However, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in the mid-IR range are under-developed which significantly slows the possible reduction of mid-IR system size, weight, and coupling losses and limits the development of highly functional mid-IR photonic modules with lower cost. In this dissertation, a solution to mid-IR photonic integration was demonstrated using a compact, widely tunable mid-IR transmitter and a mid-IR amplifying photo-detector, both which can be integrated with the mid-IR source. This integrated widely tunable mid-IR source is fabricated by incorporating a super structure grating (SSG) to a mid-IR quantum cascade laser (QCL) waveguide. The emission wavelength of the fabricated SSG-DBR QCL can be well controlled by varying the injection currents to the two grating sections of the device. The wavelength can be tuned from 4.58 um to 4.77 um (90 cm-1) with a supermode spacing of 30 nm. This SSG-DBR QCL can be a compact replacement for the external cavity QCL used in current mid-IR sensors.  Mid-IR amplification and detection was achieved using the same material as the mid-IR source. This QCL amplifier has an adjustable bandwidth and tunable gain peak, so it can function as a tunable mid-IR filter. By biasing the QCL just below its threshold, we demonstrated more than 11-dB optical gain and over 28-dB electrical gain at specified wavelengths. In the electrical gain measurement process, the resonant amplifier also functioned as a detector. This indicates that intersubband-based gain materials are ideal candidates for mid-IR photonic integrations. Beside the optimized fabrication processes, a new characterization technique based on the electrical derivative of the QCL I-V curves is used to quickly acquire the QCL threshold and leakage current, and explore the device carrier transport. The leakage currents present in different QCL waveguide structures are also studied and compared using this technique.  Finally, we report on the wavelength induced optical quenching effects on mid-IR QCLs when the QCLs are operated well above their threshold. The quenching effect is a result of intersubband band bending and it depends on the coupled near-IR intensity, wavelength, and the QCL voltage bias. The quenching effects not only can be used for mid-IR QCL optical switching and modulation but they also reveal that the mid-IR QCLs can function as converters to convert the telecom optical signal into the mid-IR optical signal at the near-IR fiber end. A coherent mid-IR transceiver with both transmitting and receiving functions can be realized based on each integrated component introduced in this dissertation. This compact transceiver includes an integrated widely tunable mid-IR source, a mid-IR filter, amplifier, and detector based on the same material system.