Scatterings
Silicon On-Chip Amplifier Boosts Mid-IR
Researchers at Columbia University and IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center built an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) on a single silicon chip.
Scanning electron microscope cross-section of a 700 x 425 nm silicon waveguide. The color map illustrates the Ey electric field component of the fundamental transverse-magnetic mode at 2.2 µm. Silicon dioxide and silicon oxynitride cladding layers sandwich the silicon waveguide core.
An optical amplifier dramatically boosts the power of mid-infrared light in a compact package. Researchers at Columbia University and IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center built an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) on a single silicon chip (Nature Photon. 4, 557). This technology could increase the use of 2- to 3-µm wavelengths for biochemical sensing, medical diagnostics and imaging, and free-space optical communications. It may also, eventually, be useful for telecommunications.
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