Erbium in Si-based light confining structures

Erbium can provide the Silicon with optoelectronic capabilities, Er:Si has a very sharp emission line at 1.54 mum. The main limitation of Erbium is it s low emission efficiency at room temperature. In this work, we show that m icrocavities can modify the optical properties of the Erbium, Two different mechanisms for modifying the optical properties of the Er ions were studie d, one in which the collection of light is optimized. In this case, an enha ncement of the photoluminescence by a factor of 1000 was obtained. The seco nd mechanism that was studied is a strong photon-Erbium interaction. In thi s case, we show evidence for mixing of optical properties of Erbium and pho tons indicating that properties such as lifetime and energy levels call be changed externally. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.