Efficient and Narrow-Linewidth Photoluminescence Devices Based on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Silicon Photonics

We report the development of narrow-linewidth photoluminescence (PL) devices based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and silicon photonics with microresonators and waveguides that can generate in-line PL at a telecommunication wavelength of 1.55 μm band. We coupled the PL from SWNTs to the ring and disk resonators to obtain low-background narrow-linewidth PL. From the ring resonator device, narrow-linewidth PL emission with a high Q factor of ∼3000 is obtained. In addition, the PL emission is enhanced by a factor of approximately 34 due to confinement of the excitation light in the resonator. The saturable absorption of the SWNTs on the resonator causes the PL intensity and Q factor to depend on the excitation intensity. We also developed a SWNT-PL device with a disk resonator and report the narrower-linewidth PL with a maximum Q factor of 5700, which we attribute to decreased scattering loss from the single sidewall. This simple on-chip, in-line PL system in the telecommunication band can open a route to highly integrated silicon photonics and optoelectronics based on SWNTs for the applications of optical communications, optical interconnects, quantum photonics, etc.