A Short Introduction to Semiconductor Nanophotonics

Abstract

Semiconductor nanophotonic devices, confining electronic excitations and light on a nanometer spatial scale, could provide valuable solutions to many challenges that society is facing. One example are energy efficient high-speed vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) for applications in multi-terabus systems to curb the rapidly increasing power consumption of the global internet traffic. Another relates to cyber security and the development of key components for quantum cryptography, like qubit and entangled photon emitters operating at high qubit rates. Nanophotonic technologies also have significant economic impact with a wide range of applications ranging from materials processing and 3D printing to medical diagnostics and sensing. In this book, some of the key features of nanophotonic devices will be introduced and emphasize the strong interaction between development of nanomaterials, key advances in the performance of nanophotonic devices, like VCSELs and non-classical light emitters and their theoretical description of the electronic and optical properties on an nano-, micro- and macroscopic scale. We will present highlights of nanophotonic device development and illustrate synergies between different device designs and fabrication technologies and how this may be exploited to create a tool box for future generation integrated photonic circuits and quantum communication networks.