title: Efficient Coupling of an Antenna-Enhanced nanoLED into an Integrated InP Waveguide.
abstract: Increasing power consumption in traditional on-chip metal interconnects has made optical links an attractive alternative. However, such a link is currently missing a fast, efficient, nanoscale light-source. Coupling nanoscale optical emitters to optical antennas has been shown to greatly increase their spontaneous emission rate and efficiency. Such a structure would be an ideal emitter for an on-chip optical link. However, there has never been a demonstration of an antenna-enhanced emitter coupled to a low-loss integrated waveguide. In this Letter we demonstrate an optical antenna-enhanced nanoLED coupled to an integrated InP waveguide. The nanoLEDs are comprised of a nanoridge of InGaAsP coupled to a gold antenna that exhibits a 36× enhanced rate of spontaneous emission. Coupling efficiencies as large as 70% are demonstrated into an integrated waveguide. Directional antennas also demonstrate direction emission down one direction of a waveguide with observed front-to-back ratios as high as 3:1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Eggleston
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Ming C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: Nanophotonics; emission coupling; enhanced spontaneous emission; integrated waveguide; metal optics; optical antennas