Low-footprint optical interconnect on an SOI chip through heterogeneous integration of InP-based microdisk lasers and microdetectors

We present a proof-of-principle demonstration of a low-footprint optical interconnect on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chip. The optical link consists of a heterogeneously integrated, InP-based microdisk laser (MDL) and microdetector, coupled to a common SOI wire waveguide. Applying an electrical current to the MDL resulted in a detector current up to 1 μA. © 2009 IEEE.