Cornell Electron Devices Society (EDS) presents:

John E. Bowers
Institute for Energy Efficiency, UCSB, CAInstitute for Energy Efficiency, UCSB, CA

Laser Integration on Silicon for Photonic Integrated Circuits

Abstract
A variety of communication and sensing applications require higher levels of photonic integration and higher levels of photonic performance. Recently, many advances have been made at a variety of laboratories around the world in laser, modulator, photodetector and photonic integrated circuit performance and these will be reviewed. One example is high Q resonators on silicon (Q>400 million) resulting in 70 dB noise reduction in DFB self injection locked lasers with integrated linewidths of a few Hertz. Recent progress in InAs quantum dot lasers epitaxially grown on Si show promise for achieving lower cost and higher performance photonic integrated circuits. The discrete density of states inherent to quantum dot lasers has many benefits: 1) reduced threshold current, 2) higher temperature operation, 3) reduced linewidth enhancement factor resulting in reduced reflection sensitivity and reduced linewidth, and 4) improved reliability. Prospects and results for integration of quantum dot lasers with photonic integrated circuits will be discussed along with important applications.

Bio
John E. Bowers holds the Fred Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology and is the Director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Bowers received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University and worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories and Honeywell before joining UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Bowers is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, a fellow of the IEEE, OSA and the American Physical Society. He is a recipient of the IEEE Photonics Award, OSA/IEEE Tyndall Award, the OSA Holonyak Award, the IEEE LEOS William Streifer Award and the South Coast Business and Technology Pioneer and Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. He is a cofounder of Aurrion, Aerius Photonics and Calient Networks. He haspublished two books, ten book chapters, 450 journal papers, 1000 conference papers and has received 54 patents. He and coworkers received the EE Times Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Award for Most Promising Technology for the hybrid silicon laser in 2007.