Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/L77140/01
Title:	ERBIUM-DOPED SILICON-GERMANIUM LASER STRUCTURES
Principal Investigator:	Zhang, Professor J
Other Investigators:	Joyce, Professor BA
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	SiGe Microsystems Inc
Department:	Physics
Organisation:	Imperial College London
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	06 June 1999	Ends:	05 December 2000	Value (£):	54,770
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Optoelect. Devices & Circuits
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Electronics
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
This project builds upon major advances in our understanding of the recombination kinetics at erbium in silicon. It concerns developing a silicon-based laser structures emitting at 1.54 microns, using erbium-doped silicon-germanium as the active region. A laser based on Group IV semiconductors is a critical step forward in the development of an integratable, silicon-based optoelectronic system; work on detectors and modulators has already shown feasibility of these components.Implantation ensures that high concentrations of optically active erbium are introduced into the silicon without precipitation, so that sufficient gain can be achieved. Studies will be carried out by electrical and optical spectroscopy to maximise the efficiency of the excitation and subsequent radiative de-excitation of the erbium atom at these high concentrations.The laser structures will consist of silicon-germanium quantum wells, which form the waveguide and provide carrier confinement, surrounded by silicon. The electromagnetic mode profiles in the waveguide will be calculated by a model developed for the project. Using results from experiments on optically pumped laser structures, a distributed feedback laser structure will be designed as the basis for development of a single mode silicon based laser.Silicon-based integrated optoelectronics will ultimately benefit industrial sectors associated with computing, communications and automobile electronics.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.imperial.ac.uk