Micro-LEDs advance nanowire PICs
Researchers demonstrate transfer-printed micro-LED integration for scalable nanowire-based photonic circuits and chip-scale optical addressing.
Researchers have demonstrated a chip-scale photonic approach using transfer-printed micro-LEDs to electrically excite nanowire emitters, advancing the development of scalable nanowire-based photonic integrated circuits.
The work explores how micro-LED devices can be integrated directly above indium phosphide nanowire emitters to enable localized electro-optical addressing without relying on external optics or complex post-processing steps.
The approach combines transfer-printed micro-LED technology with waveguide-integrated nanowire emitters, supporting small-signal modulation at tens of MHz at room temperature.
According to the researchers, the technique could help reduce the footprint of future programmable nanowire PIC systems while improving scalability for chip-level photonic integration.
The micro-LED devices were fabricated using indium gallium nitride epitaxial structures, while the nanowire emitters were integrated into polymer waveguides using heterogeneous assembly techniques.
The researchers reported that the 470 nm emission from the micro-LEDs successfully excited the nanowires, which subsequently emitted near-infrared light around 860 nm.
The team noted that further optimisation is required before practical deployment, particularly to improve optical overlap and pumping efficiency. Proposed next steps include integrating metasurface lens layers to enhance light focusing within the nanowire region.
The research highlights growing interest in combining micro-LED integration, heterogeneous assembly and nanowire photonics to support future high-density photonic integrated systems.
