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High-speed optoelectronic devices

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Abstract

High-speed optoelectronic devices are key components of modern fiber communication systems, and the backbone of information technology. In this paper, we present our work on high-speed devices over the past decades, including high-performance semiconductor lasers and integrated light sources, wideband electro-optic modulators, high saturation power photodetectors, and their applications in both fiber communications and microwave photonics. Gain-coupled distributed feedback (DFB) lasers were fabricated with high single-mode yield. Electroabsorption modulated lasers (EMLs) were demonstrated based on identical epitaxial layer integration scheme, including single channel 40 Gb/s EMLs, and 4 × 25 and 4 × 56 Gb/s EML arrays. Both InP and thin-film lithium niobate based low half-wave voltage electro-optic modulators with modulation bandwidth over 40 GHz were demonstrated. Back-illuminated modified uni-traveling-carrier photodetectors (MUTC-PDs) with high saturation power and bandwidth exceeding 100 GHz were developed. Applications of high-speed optoelectronic devices in fiber-optic links and sub-THz wave generation are presented.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFB2201701), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62235005, 62127814, 61975093, 61927811, 61991443, 61822404, 61974080, 61904093, 61875104), Key Lab Program of BNRist (Grant No. BNR2019ZS01005), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019T120090), and Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid-State Lighting and Energy-Saving Electronics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology (BNRist), Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yi Luo, Changzheng Sun, Bing Xiong, Jian Wang, Zhibiao Hao, Yanjun Han, Hongtao Li & Lai Wang

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  1. Yi Luo
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  2. Changzheng Sun
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  3. Bing Xiong
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  4. Jian Wang
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  5. Zhibiao Hao
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  6. Yanjun Han
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  7. Hongtao Li
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  8. Lai Wang
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Correspondence to Yi Luo.

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Profile of Yi LUO

Prof. Yi Luo received his B.S. degree from Tsinghua University in 1983, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He is a professor of the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University and deputy director of the Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology. Prof. Luo is an OSA Fellow for contributions to compound semiconductor optoelectronic devices and was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) in 2021. He has been granted several government and society awards, including the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China in 1995, and Changjiang distinguished professor of the Ministry of Education of China in 1999. As the leader, he won the support of the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Science Foundation of China in 2013.

Prof. Yi Luo is mainly engaged in the research of compound semiconductor optoelectronic devices and their applications and has made pioneering contributions and outstanding achievements in high-speed optoelectronic devices including dynamic single-mode semiconductor lasers, as well as high-efficiency solid-state lighting technologies including GaN-based LEDs and three-dimensional (3D) free-form optical surface lenses.

Single-mode laser diodes are indispensable for optical fiber communications, their theory was published in 1972, but had not been completely realized for a long time. In the year of 1988, Luo proposed new grating structures including periodic changes of loss and gain materials along with semiconductor laser cavities, then realized the first gain-coupled distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode, demonstrating its excellent dynamic single-mode characteristics.

To transmit microwave signals on fiber, optoelectronic devices should be working with both enough bandwidth and dynamic range, but generally, there is a contradiction between them. Luo and his colleagues proposed a novel physical model, in which the carrier transit time, RC time constants and bandwidths were found to be strongly related to device bias voltages and large photocurrents. Based on this model, Luo has realized wide-bandwidth optical modulators with a bandwidth > 40 GHz and a dynamic extinction ratio > 10 dB, and photodiodes with a high saturation current > 28 mA at a bandwidth of 106 GHz, both of which were among the best-reported results under comparable conditions.

To fabricate optoelectronic devices, dry etching with a smooth etching surface, lower damage, and non-selective etching rate for hetero-structures comprised of different materials is necessary. However, they are very difficult to achieve simultaneously. Prof. Luo optimizes the physical and chemical etching mechanisms in the emerging ICP etching and made the etched surface roughness to be less than an atomic layer for all GaAs, InP, and GaN-based hetero-structures for the first time.

To meet the general lighting requirements, the intrinsic Lambert light distribution of traditional packaged LEDs should be transformed by freeform optical surface lenses. However, in the traditional 3D free-form optical surface design, there exist large calculation errors, surface discontinuity, and difficulty in the practical fabrication process such as injection molding. Prof. Luo proposed a novel design method, which can be implemented easily and precisely in practical fabrication. Based on this method, 3D free-form optical surfaces have been constructed for many LEDs based lighting applications such as street lighting.

Prof. Luo has published more than 400 journal papers and 50 invited reports and has been authorized 70 items of Japanese, American, European, and Chinese invention patents. In 2012, 2014, and 2019, as the first winner, he won 3 items of the second-class National Technological Invention Award of China, and in 2011, as the second winner, he obtained the second-class National Science and Technology Progress Award of China.

Prof. Luo has made substantial service to the global optics and photonics community. For a long time, he served as the deputy director of the National Research Center of Beijing Information Science and Technology, the Technical Program Committee member of the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) (2003.1-present) and IEEE international semiconductor laser conference (2009.1-present), the oversea editor of the Japanese Journal of Applied Physics (2004.4-present) and Applied Physics Express (2008.4-present), the associate editor of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (1996-1998) and IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology (2007.1–2012.12).

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Luo, Y., Sun, C., Xiong, B. et al. High-speed optoelectronic devices. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 66, 150401 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-022-3669-5

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