This project involves the development of a new platform enabled by ultra-low loss Si3N4 waveguides integrated into optical circuits with active III-V semiconductor devices. Integrating the new platform merging the low loss silica waveguides with the III-V bonding technology used in the Silica hybrid platform. Characterization is being performed in different optical and electrical scenarios. This new platform integrates waveguides, amplifiers, lasers and other passive devices used for optoelectronic systems. For example optical gyroscopes could be conceived by measuring phase differences of counter-propagating signals in such ultralow loss waveguides, which can be applied to jets, or robots.

Long cavity laser devices will be fabricated which must be characterized to confirm the proper function. In one such design, a mode-locked laser, the long cavity of the laser will provide a low repetition rate thus allowing higher peak power. The target wavelength for this laser is 1.03µm, and required a new characterization setup which has been built. The initially fabricated Fabry Perot (FP) laser diodes are currently being tested to analyze electrical and optical characteristics of the bonded III-V gain material. The setup allows us to control the stage temperature, and the input current for initial electrical pulsed and continuous wave (CW) measurements. The initial results of two similar processing chips have shown that the initial chip lasers have better optical characteristics than the second chip lasers, but the electrical characteristics are better on the second chip. Further data must be organized and analyzed to determine what processing methods can be improved to get an ideal FP laser diode which exhibits reasonable optical and electrical characteristics.