Optical Elements for Photonic Integrated Circuits based on Nanowire Photonic Crystal Arrays

The next evolution in information technology platforms is the merging of silicon-on-insulator based electronics with photonics. This progression aims to replace metallic chip-to-chip or on-chip interconnects by micrometer or sub-micrometer sized photonic devices. The emerging photonic integrated circuits (PICs) will offer a significantly enhanced performance. In this contribution I will report on our investigations of InP nanowire (NW) photonic crystal (PhC) arrays which have the potential to achieve the size demands for on-chip coherent light sources or passive optical elements in PICs. The InP NW PhC arrays were synthesized by selective area epitaxy to achieve ultra-compact two-dimensional surface emitting lasers [1]. Due to their strong intrinsic birefringence, NW PhC arrays are also ideal for micrometer-sized optical elements like polarizers, analyzers, mirrors as well as polarization converting and phase retarding elements. We further show plasmonic enhancement in these NW arrays by coating them with a layer of gold film. [1] C. W. Tu et al., "Lasing from InP Nanowire Photonic Crystals on InP Substrate", Advanced Optical Materials, 9, 2001745, (2021).