4. Laser integration

Integrating laser sources on a silicon PIC has long been a technological stumbling block. Silicon is a material with an indirect bandgap, so it cannot emit light efficiently. However, components such as laser sources and amplifiers are essential for complete emitters. Among laser sources, several families are required, depending on the communication network in question. They include Fabry-Perot lasers, Bragg grating lasers, distributed Bragg grating (DFB) lasers and tunable [E 7 005] lasers.

Today, there are three different approaches...