Few-Layer MoTe₂-on-Silicon Laser-like Emitters at O-band Telecom Wavelength

While many essential silicon photonics components have already been demonstrated, silicon light source still cannot be easily incorporated into the silicon devices. The emergence of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) materials has sparked intense activity in light sources. Although several TMD-based lasers have been demonstrated [1-3], 2D-on-silicon laser at telecom wavelengths is still a challenge. We demonstrate an optically pumped 2D-on-silicon laser-like emitters by employing few-layer TMDs of MoTe2 as a gain material in a silicon photonic crystals cavity at room temperature, with a low threshold power and at O-band telecom wavelengths, which signifies a technological step-change for silicon laser source [4]. The surprising insight is that, few-layer MoTe2 offers a higher overlap between the gain material and the optical mode, resulting a sufficient gain at 1300 nm for fiber coupling output. This opens a new opportunitie for deploying manufacturing methods like chemical vapor deposition and thereby brings 2D-on-silicon laser a step closer for silicon photonics.
[1] S. Wu, et. al., Nature 520, 69, 2015
[2] Y. Ye, et. al., Nat Photon 9, 733, 2015
[3] Y. Li, et. al., Nat Nanotechnol 12, 987, 2017
[4] H. Fang, et. al. Laser Photonics Rev 12, 1800015, 2018