Integration of Er3+ Emitters in Silicon-on-Insulator Nanodisk Metasurface

TL;DR

This paper explores integrating erbium emitters into silicon-based nanodisks to enhance optical emission for telecom and quantum applications.

Contribution

The novel integration of Er3+ emitters in SOI nanodisk metasurfaces enables scalable and CMOS-compatible control of spontaneous emission.

Findings

CMOS-compatible metasurfaces improve the collection efficiency of Er3+ spontaneous emission in SOI.

Spontaneous emission was studied at room and cryogenic temperatures using confocal microscopy and photoluminescence techniques.

The results suggest applicability in advanced materials for quantum and telecom technologies.

Abstract

Erbium (Er3+) emitters are relevant for optical applications due to their narrow emission line directly in the telecom C-band due to the 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 transition at 1.54 μm. Additionally, they are promising candidates for future quantum technologies when embedded in thin film silicon-on-insulator (SOI) to achieve fabrication scalability and CMOS compatibility. In this paper we integrate Er3+ emitters in SOI metasurfaces made of closely spaced arrays of nanodisks, to study their spontaneous emission via room and cryogenic temperature confocal microscopy, off-resonance and in-resonance photoluminescence excitation at room temperature and time-resolved spectroscopy. This work demonstrates the possibility to adopt CMOS-compatible and fabrication-scalable metasurfaces for controlling and improving the collection efficiency of the spontaneous emission from the Er3+ transition in SOI and that they could be adopted in similar technologically advanced materials.

Figures