Semiconductor Device Group

We are developing a range of components including beam splitters, waveplates, single photon detectors, χ⁽²⁾ mixers, χ⁽³⁾ mixers, high-Q microdisk and racetrack cavities and plasmonic antennas to allow integrated silicon quantum photonic circuits to be achieved.

We have already demonstrated the use of strain to engineer the non-linear properties of Ge and We have also used Ge on Si plasmonic antenna to both amplify mid-infrared radiation for chemical sensing and to down-convert and up convert light using the strong χ⁽³⁾ non-linearity. A range of single photon and broadband mid-infrared detectors are in development which should provide a platform technology for Silicon Quantum Photonics.

• M.P. Fischer, A. Riede, A. Grupp, K. Gallacher, J. Frigerio, G. Pellegrini, M. Ortolani, D. J. Paul, G. Isella, A. Leitenstorfer, P. Biagioni, and D. Brida, "Mid-Infrared Third-Harmonic Emission from Heavily-Doped Germanium Plasmonic Nanoantennas" Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, OSA Technical Digest 2017, paper FF1G.2 - DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/CLEO_QELS.2017.FF1G.2
• M.P. Fischer, C. Schmidt, E. Sakat, J. Stock, A. Samarelli, J. Frigerio, M. Ortolani, D.J. Paul, G. Isella, A. Leitenstorfer, P. Biagioni, and D. Brida, "Optical Activation of Germanium Plasmonic Nanoantennas in the Mid Infrared" Physical Review Letters 117, 047401 (2016) - DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.047401
• L. Baldassarre, E. Sakat, J. Frigerio, A. Samarelli, K. Gallacher, E. Calandrini, G. Isella, D.J. Paul, M. Ortolani, P. Biagioni, "Mid-infrared plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy with germanium antennas on silicon substrates" Nano Letters 15(11), pp. 7225 - 7231 (2015) - DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b03247
• K. Gallacher, A. Ballabio, R. W. Millar, J. Frigerio, A. Bashir, I. Maclaren, G. Isella, M. Ortolani, and D.J. Paul, "Mid-infrared intersubband absorption from p-Ge quantum wells grown on Si substrates" Applied Physics Letters 108, 091114 (2016) - DOI: 10.1063/1.4943145