Integrated GaN photonic circuits on silicon (100) for second harmonic generation

We demonstrate second order optical nonlinearity in a silicon architecture through heterogeneous integration of single-crystalline gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon (100) substrates. By engineering GaN microrings for dual resonance around 1560 nm and 780 nm, we achieve efficient, tunable second harmonic generation at 780 nm. The chi(2) nonlinear susceptibility is measured to be as high as 16 +/- 7 pm/V. Because GaN has a wideband transparency window covering ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths, our platform provides a viable route for the on-chip generation of optical wavelengths in both the far infrared and near-UV through a combination of chi(2) enabled sum-/difference-frequency processes. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America