A new discovery for on-chip light sources

January 2023 - UCL researchers find that realisation of on-chip light sources paves the way towards the full integration of Si-based photonic integrated circuits

Researchers in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering of UCL find that the realisation of on-chip light sources paves the way towards the full integration of Si-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The researchers have reviewed the ongoing progress of state-of-the-art on-chip light sources and highlighted the perspects and applications of Si-based PICs with the on-chip light sources. Looking into the future, it could be expected that the direct epitaxy of Si-based III–V quantum dot (QD) lasers provides a feasible pathway for achieving reliable, power-efficient on-chip laser sources with low cost and high integration density for Si-based PICs in the long term.

While tremendous progress has been achieved in the commercialisation of Si-based PICs in optical interconnections and sensing technologies, further advances in the on-chip light sources are still needed to enable the realisation of Si-based PICs for envisioned applications, including IQP and optical computing.

The researchers consider that the successful implementation of commercialised Si-based PICs in these fields will unleash the enormous potential and impact of these technologies on society in the foreseeable future.

The findings were published in January 2023 in Light: Science and Applications -

Yang J, Tang M, Chen S and Liu H (2023). "From past to future: on-chip laser sources for photonic integrated circuits", Light, Science & Applications, 15 Jan 2023, 12(1):16. DOI: 10.1038/s41377-022-01006-0