Light-Emitting Diodes. (Monographs in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.) By A. A. Bergh and P. J. Dean. Pp. viii+591. (Clarendon: Oxford; Oxford University: London, 1976.) £22.

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Light-emitting diodes

Organic semiconductor lasers.

INTRODUCTION Physical systems that exhibit topological invariants are naturally endowed with robustness against perturbations, as was recently demonstrated in many settings in condensed matter, photonics, cold atoms, acoustics, and more. The most prominent manifestations of topological systems are topological insulators, which exhibit scatter-free edge-state transport, immune to perturbations and disorder. Recent years have witnessed intense efforts toward exploiting these physical phenomena in the optical domain, with new ideas ranging from topology-driven unidirectional devices to topological protection of path entanglement. But perhaps more technologically relevant than all topological photonic settings studied thus far is, as proposed by the accompanying theoretical paper by Harari et al ., an all-dielectric magnet-free topological insulator laser, with desirable properties stemming from the topological transport of light in the laser cavity. RATIONALE We demonstrate nonmagnetic topological insulator lasers. The topological properties of the laser system give rise to single-mode lasing, robustness against fabrication defects, and notably higher slope efficiencies compared to those of the topologically trivial counterparts. We further exploit the properties of the active topological platform by assembling topological insulator lasers from S -chiral microresonators that enforce predetermined unidirectional lasing even in the absence of magnetic fields. RESULTS Our topological insulator laser system is an aperiodic array of 10 unit cell–by–10 unit cell coupled ring resonators on an InGaAsP quantum wells platform. The active lattice uses the topological architecture suggested in the accompanying theoretical paper. This two-dimensional setting is composed of a square lattice of ring resonators coupled to each other by means of link rings. The intermediary links are judiciously spatially shifted to introduce a set of hopping phases, establishing a synthetic magnetic field and two topological band gaps. The gain in this laser system is provided by optical pumping. To promote lasing of the topologically protected edge modes, we pump the outer perimeter of the array while leaving the interior lossy. We find that this topological insulator laser operates in single mode even considerably above threshold, whereas the corresponding topologically trivial realizations lase in multiple modes. Moreover, the topological laser displays a slope efficiency that is considerably higher than that in the corresponding trivial realizations. We further demonstrate the topological features of this laser by observing that in the topological array, all sites emit coherently at the same wavelength, whereas in the trivial array, lasing occurs in localized regions, each at a different frequency. Also, by pumping only part of the topological array, we demonstrate that the topological edge mode always travels along the perimeter and emits light through the output coupler. By contrast, when we pump the trivial array far from the output coupler, no light is extracted from the coupler because the lasing occurs at stationary modes. We also observe that, even in the presence of defects, the topological protection always leads to more efficient lasing compared to that of the trivial counterpart. Finally, to show the potential of this active system, we assemble a topological system based on S -chiral resonators, which can provide new avenues to control the topological features. CONCLUSION We have experimentally demonstrated an all-dielectric topological insulator laser and found that the topological features enhance the lasing performance of a two-dimensional array of microresonators, making them lase in unison in an extended topologically protected scatter-free edge mode. The observed single longitudinal-mode operation leads to a considerably higher slope efficiency as compared to that of a corresponding topologically trivial system. Our results pave the way toward a new class of active topological photonic devices, such as laser arrays, that can operate in a coherent fashion with high efficiencies.

Topological insulator laser: Experiments

Hyperbolic metamaterials and their applications

We report the high-frequency modulation of individual pixels in 8 × 8 arrays of III-nitride-based micro-pixellated light-emitting diodes, where the pixels within the array range from 14 to 84 μ m in diameter. The peak emission wavelengths of the devices are 370, 405, 450 and 520 nm, respectively. Smaller area micro-LED pixels generally exhibit higher modulation bandwidths than their larger area counterparts, which is attributed to their ability to be driven at higher current densities. The highest optical -3 dB modulation bandwidths from these devices are shown to be in excess of 400 MHz, which, to our knowledge, are the highest bandwidths yet reported for GaN LEDs. These devices are also integrated with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) driver array chip, allowing for simple computer control of individual micro-LED pixels. The bandwidth of the integrated micro-LED/CMOS pixels is shown to be up to 185 MHz; data transmission at bit rates up to 512 Mbit/s is demonstrated using on-off keying non return-to-zero modulation with a bit-error ratio of less than 1 × 10-10, using a 450 nm-emitting 24 μm diameter CMOS-controlled micro-LED. As the CMOS chip allows for up to 16 independent data inputs, this device demonstrates the potential for multi-Gigabit/s parallel data transmission using CMOS-controlled micro-LEDs.

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Visible-Light Communications Using a CMOS-Controlled Micro-Light- Emitting-Diode Array

Conference on Lasers and Electro-OP

We report the fabrication of hybrid organic/inorganic semiconductor light-emitting devices that operate across the entire visible spectrum The devices are based on a series of blue-, green-, and red-light-emitting polyfluorene materials that convert the emission from an array of micron-sized ultraviolet InGaN light-emitting diodes We also demonstrate white-light-emitting versions of these hybrid devices by employing single films of carefully adjusted polyfluorene blends in which cascade energy transfer occurs between the constituent materials The spectral and operating characteristics of the devices are described in detail Such organic emission layer/inorganic light-emitting diode (LED) array based devices may provide a promising route to the fabrication of low-cost full-color microdisplays and other instrumentation devices

Spectral conversion of InGaN ultraviolet microarray light-emitting diodes using fluorene-based red-, green-, blue-, and white-light-emitting polymer overlayer films

We describe a single chip approach to time resolved fluorescence measurements based on time correlated single photon counting. Using a single complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) chip, bump bonded to a 4 × 16 array of AlInGaN UV micro-pixellated light-emitting diodes, a prototype integrated microsystem has been built that demonstrates fluorescence excitation and detection on a nanosecond time scale. Demonstrator on-chip measurements of lifetimes of fluorescence colloidal quantum dot samples are presented.

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CMOS driven micro-pixel LEDs integrated with single photon avalanche diodes for time resolved fluorescence measurements

Using the method of photoresist reflow and inductively coupled plasma dry etching, we have fabricated microlens arrays in type-IIa natural single-crystal diamond, with diameters down to 10 μm. The surface profile of the microlenses was characterized by atomic force microscopy and was found to match well with a spherical shape, with a surface roughness of better than 1.2 nm. To characterize the optical properties of these diamond microlens arrays, a laser scanning reflection/transmission confocal microscopy technique has been developed. This technique enabled the surface profile of the microlenses to be measured simultaneously with optical parameters including focal length and spot size, opening up an application area for confocal microscopy.

/pdf/reflection-transmission-confocal-microscopy-characterization-20p212w5jy.pdf

Reflection/transmission confocal microscopy characterization of single-crystal diamond microlens arrays

We describe an optical sectioning microscopy system with no moving parts based on a micro-structured stripe-array light emitting diode (LED). By projecting arbitrary line or grid patterns onto the object, we are able to implement a variety of optical sectioning microscopy techniques such as grid-projection structured illumination and line scanning confocal microscopy, switching from one imaging technique to another without modifying the microscope setup. The micro-structured LED and driver are detailed and depth discrimination capabilities are measured and calculated.

C. Griffin

Papers

Conference on Lasers and Electro-OP

Spectral conversion of InGaN ultraviolet microarray light-emitting diodes using fluorene-based red-, green-, blue-, and white-light-emitting polymer overlayer films

CMOS driven micro-pixel LEDs integrated with single photon avalanche diodes for time resolved fluorescence measurements

Reflection/transmission confocal microscopy characterization of single-crystal diamond microlens arrays

Optical sectioning microscopes with no moving parts using a micro-stripe array light emitting diode