Spontaneous emission enhancement from polymer-embedded colloidal PbS nanocrystals into Si-based photonics at telecom wavelengths

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the coupling of PbS nanocrystal photoluminescence into silicon photonic devices at telecom wavelengths, achieving enhanced emission and stable optical properties through polymer embedding and experimental validation.

Contribution

It introduces a method for integrating PbS nanocrystals into silicon photonics using polymer embedding, with experimental analysis of spontaneous emission enhancement and device stability.

Findings

Achieved quality factors of 2500 at 1.45 μm

Observed linear PL intensity dependence on excitation power

Demonstrated stable optical properties without degradation

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate the coupling of optically excited PbS nanocrystal (NC) photoluminescence (PL) into Si-based ring resonators and waveguides at 300K. The PbS NCs are dissolved into Novolak polymer at various concentrations and applied by drop-casting. The coupling mechanism and the spontaneous emission enhancement are experimentally investigated and compared to theoretical predictions. Quality (Q) factors of 2500 were obtained in emission and transmission for wavelengths centered around 1.45{\mu}m. PL intensity shows a linear dependence on the excitation power and no degradation of the Q factors. Devices with stable optical properties are obtained by this versatile technique.