Final Report Summary - MIRACLE (Mid-InfraRed Active photonic integrated Circuits for Life<br/>sciences and Environment)
In MIRACLE a silicon photonics technology platform has been developed for mid-infrared photonic integrated circuits, using silicon-on-insulator and germanium-on-silicon waveguide circuits, combined with the heterogeneous integration of III-V semiconductors (InP, GaSb and GaAs-based layer structures). The technology was used to demonstrate the realization of mid-infrared integrated spectrometers. Some of the achievements include the realization of integrated III-V-on-silicon spectrometers for the 2 μm and 3 μm wavelength range using InP type II and GaSb type I photodetectors. These are important wavelength ranges for e.g. the spectroscopic analysis of bio-fluids. Besides the realization of integrated spectrometers it was also demonstrated that efficient nonlinear processes in silicon-based waveguides can be used to realize specialty mid-infrared light sources. Amongst others, MIRACLE demonstrated the feasibility of mid-infrared octave spanning frequency comb generation (a key component to realize dual comb spectroscopy systems) and tunable parametric oscillation (as a versatile coherent light source) in the mid-infrared using silicon-based waveguide circuits. These devices (both spectrometers and nonlinear optics based light sources) will find applications in compact spectroscopic sensor systems covering applications ranging from bio-medical applications, over security to environmental monitoring.