Continuous-wave operation and 10-Gb/s direct modulation of InAsP/InP sub-wavelength nanowire laser on silicon photonic crystal

We demonstrated sub-wavelength (∼111 nm diameter) single nanowire (NW) continuous wave (CW) lasers on silicon photonic crystal in the telecom-band with direct modulation at 10 Gb/s by optical pumping at cryogenic temperatures. To estimate the small signal response and pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) modulation of our CW lasers, we employed a new signal detection technique that employs a superconducting single photon detector and a time-correlated single photon counting module. The results showed that our NW laser was unambiguously modulated at above 10 Gb/s and an open eye pattern was obtained. This is the first demonstration of a telecom-band CW NW laser with high-speed PRBS modulation.