Optical gain in silicon nanocrystals

ABSTRACT Adding optical functionality to a silicon microelectronic chip is one of the most challenging problems of materials research. Silicon is an indirect-bandgap semiconductor and so is

an inefficient emitter of light. For this reason, integration of optically functional elements with silicon microelectronic circuitry has largely been achieved through the use of

direct-bandgap compound semiconductors. For optoelectronic applications, the key device is the light source—a laser. Compound semiconductor lasers exploit low-dimensional electronic systems,

such as quantum wells and quantum dots, as the active optical amplifying medium. Here we demonstrate that light amplification is possible using silicon itself, in the form of quantum dots

dispersed in a silicon dioxide matrix. Net optical gain is seen in both waveguide and transmission configurations, with the material gain being of the same order as that of direct-bandgap

quantum dots. We explain the observations using a model based on population inversion of radiative states associated with the Si/SiO2 interface. These findings open a route to the

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FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ALL-SILICON QUANTUM LIGHT SOURCE BY EMBEDDING AN ATOMIC EMISSIVE CENTER IN A NANOPHOTONIC CAVITY Article Open access

07 June 2023 HIGHLY EFFICIENT NONLINEAR OPTICAL EMISSION FROM A SUBWAVELENGTH CRYSTALLINE SILICON CUBOID MEDIATED BY SUPERCAVITY MODE Article Open access 18 May 2022 PROGRAMMABLE QUANTUM

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1978). Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been supported by the National Institute for the Physics of the Matter (INFM) through the LUNA

project and the advanced research project RAMSES. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * INFM & Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Trento, Via Sommarive 14, Povo, 38050, Italy

L. Pavesi, L. Dal Negro & C. Mazzoleni * INFM & Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Catania, Corso Italia 57 , Catania, 95129, Italy G. Franzò & F. Priolo Authors

* L. Pavesi View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * L. Dal Negro View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * C. Mazzoleni View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * G. Franzò View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * F. Priolo View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to L. Pavesi. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

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nanocrystals. _Nature_ 408, 440–444 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35044012 Download citation * Received: 08 June 2000 * Accepted: 24 October 2000 * Issue Date: 23 November 2000 * DOI:

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