Abstract
The prospect of an all-fibre optical communications network in which light can be generated, modulated and detected within the fibre itself1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 without the need for discrete optoelectronic devices is an appealing one. However, to become a reality, this approach requires the incorporation of optoelectronic materials and functionalities into silica fibres to create a new breed of semiconductor–fibre hybrid devices for performing various tasks. Here, we report the integration of precisely doped semiconductor materials and high-quality rectifying semiconductor junctions into microstructured optical fibres, enabling high-speed, in-fibre functionalities such as photodetection at telecommunications wavelengths. These semiconductor–fibre hybrid devices exhibit a bandwidth of up to 3 GHz and seamless coupling to standard single-mode optical fibres.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank N. F. Baril, J. A. Calkins, D. W. Keefer, P. Horak and Y. Zeng for helpful discussions and technical assistance. This work was supported by the Pennsylvania State University Materials Research Institute Nano Fabrication Network and the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Cooperative Agreement no. 0335765), National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, with Cornell University. The authors thank the EPSRC (EP/G028273/1), NSF (DMR-0806860, DMR-1107894) and Penn State Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (NSF DMR-0820404) for financial support. A. C. Peacock is a holder of a Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship.
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R.H., V.G., P.J.A.S. and J.V.B. designed the research. R.H. carried out the experiments and analysed the data. A.C.P. provided simulation support. N.H., J.R.S. and M.K. assisted with experiments. R.H., P.J.A.S. and J.V.B. wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the scientific discussion and revision of the manuscript.
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He, R., Sazio, P., Peacock, A. et al. Integration of gigahertz-bandwidth semiconductor devices inside microstructured optical fibres. Nature Photon 6, 174–179 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.352
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.352
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