Preface ......................................................... 1
1. Introduction ................................................. 1
What is photonics? .............................................. 1
Measurement of light ............................................ 3
Photonics as a dominant technology of this millennium ........... 4
Light as energy carrier ...................................... 6
Light as information carrier ................................ 10
Silicon as the enabling materials .............................. 18
References ..................................................... 19
2. Silicon nanocrystals fundamentals ........................... 25
Low dimensional structures ..................................... 25
Si nanostructures .............................................. 26
Si nanocrystals growth ......................................... 26
PECVD technique ............................................. 27
Porous silicon .............................................. 29
Structural properties .......................................... 33
Optical properties ............................................. 34
Luminescence models ......................................... 35
References ..................................................... 40
3. Nanoprobe technique to characterize Silicon nanocrystals .... 45
The Rationale of SPM development ............................... 45
Nanoprobe techniques ........................................... 47
STM ......................................................... 47
AFM ......................................................... 49
Lateral force microscopy .................................... 52
Force modulation microscopy ................................. 52
Magnetic force microscopy ................................... 53
Electrostatic force microscopy .............................. 53
Scanning thermal microscopy
SNOM ........................................................ 54
Nanoprobe characteristics and limits ........................... 57
SPM characterization of Silicon nanocrystal .................... 59
References ..................................................... 61
4. Silicon based light emitting diode .......................... 65
Silicon LED .................................................... 65
Bulk Silicon LED ............................................... 65
SiGe LED ....................................................... 69
Porous Silicon LED ............................................. 71
Nanocrystals LED ............................................... 75
Erbium Doped LED, Silicon Erbium Organic LED ................... 77
References ..................................................... 81
5. Optical gain in silicon and the quest for a silicon laser ... 87
Basic on light amplification and gain .......................... 87
Limitation of Silicon for light amplification .................. 89
Various approaches to a silicon laser .......................... 91
Silicon Raman laser ......................................... 91
Bulk silicon light emitting diodes .......................... 93
Optical gain in silicon nanocrystals ........................ 96
Light amplification in Er coupled Si nanoclusters .......... 101
Si/Ge quantum cascade structures ........................... 104
Conclusions ................................................... 107
References .................................................... 107
6. Er coupled Si nanocrystal optical amplifiers ............... 113
Motivations ................................................... 113
Spectroscopy of the Er3+ ion .................................. 114
Lifetimes .................................................. 115
Cross sections ............................................. 116
Optical amplification in a three level system ................. 118
Er3+ and Si-Nc interactions. Models and experimental
evidences ..................................................... 121
Waveguide amplification studies ............................... 127
Conclusions ................................................... 128
References .................................................... 128
7. Design of silicon based optical components ................. 131
Introduction .................................................. 131
Simulation .................................................... 131
Plane Wave Expansion method ................................ 135
Finite difference time domain method ....................... 139
Eigen Mode Expansion method ................................ 142
Examples ...................................................... 149
References .................................................... 153
8. Si-based waveguides ........................................ 157
Introduction .................................................. 157
Si-based waveguides............................................ 157
Silicon oxynitride and silicon nitride waveguides .......... 158
Silicon on insulator waveguides ............................ 159
Silicon nanocrystals waveguides ............................ 159
Propagation Losses in optical waveguides ...................... 160
Scattering losses .......................................... 160
Interface scattering ....................................... 161
Absorption losses ............................................. 163
Molecular bond absorption .................................. 163
Interband absorption ....................................... 165
Free carrier absorption .................................... 165
Coupling losses for butt and end-fire coupling ................ 166
Reflection from waveguide facet............................. 167
Numerical aperture mismatch ................................ 168
Misalignment ............................................... 168
Spot size of light beam and waveguide size ................. 169
Measurement of propagation losses in optical waveguide ........ 171
Methods .................................................... 171
Experimental results for different kinds of waveguides ..... 173
Conclusion .................................................... 178
References .................................................... 178
9. Silicon based photonic crystals ............................ 183
Engineering photon states ..................................... 183
Band structure and electronic analogy ......................... 184
One dimensional PC ............................................ 186
The multilayer structure ................................... 186
Complete gap and omnidirectional reflector ................. 187
Introducing a defect: the cavity ........................... 188
Apodized filters ........................................... 191
Porous silicon 1D photonic structures ...................... 191
Two dimensional PC ............................................ 194
Perfect 2D PC .............................................. 194
Defects: cavities and waveguides ........................... 197
Silicon based 2D structures ................................ 200
Three dimensional PC .......................................... 201
Complete control of light propagation ...................... 201
3D fabrication techniques................................... 201
Advanced properties ........................................... 203
References .................................................... 203
10. Silicon based complex dielectric systems .................. 209
Introduction .................................................. 209
PS multilayers: a controlled growth ........................... 211
Light propagation in optical superlattices .................... 216
Time-resolved photonic Bloch oscillations .................. 216
Resonant Zener tunneling of light .......................... 223
Light transport in Fibonacci Quasicrystals .................... 229
References .................................................... 235
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