Active Erbium‐Doped Silicon Nanoantenna

The development of silicon‐based radiative nanostructures is an important step toward silicon‐based optoelectronic systems. Here an approach for the fabrication of photoluminescent Er‐doped silicon nanoantennas is demonstrated. The combination of electron beam lithography and laser annealing of a thin Er film deposited after fabrication creates an active dielectric nanoantenna operating in the standard telecommunication wavelength range (C‐band). Using the multipole decomposition method the geometrical parameters of the silicon nanoparticle when the first‐order Mie‐resonances are tuned to the erbium emission in C‐band range (4I13/2→4I15/2$^4I_{13/2}\rightarrow ^4I_{15/2}$ transition) is calculated. It is observed experimentally that the presence of the Mie‐resonances provides enhancement of the photoluminescence intensity up to 40% compared to the non‐resonant case. The proposed approach allows for the creation of computational optical chips compatible with existing nanofabrication technologies. The creation of IR nanophotonics is a future step in the development of communications and quantum computing. Here, an approach for the fabrication of active Er‐doped silicon nanoantennas based on a combination of nanolithography and fs‐laser‐assisted annealing is demonstrated. The results of the work find application in IR‐nanophotonics based on Er ions for optical chips compatible with existing nanofabrication technologies.