Monolithically integrated active components: a quantum-well intermixing approach

As the demand for bandwidth increases, the communications industry is faced with a paradigm shift. Photonic integration is a key technology that will facilitate this shift. Monolithic integration allows for the realization of highly functional optical components, called photonic integrated circuits. Herein, we discuss the advantages and potential applications of photonic integration, and after a brief overview of various integration techniques, provide a detailed look at our work using a novel quantum well intermixing processing platform.