From Visible Light-Emitting Diodes to Large-Scale III-V Photonic Integrated Circuits

The discovery of the visible light-emitting diode (LED) 50 years ago by Holonyak and Bevacqua and the associated demonstration of the viability of the III-V semiconductor alloy created a foundational basis for the field of optoelectronics. Key advances which enabled the progression from the first visible LED to today's III-V photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are described. Furthermore, the current state-of-the-art 500-Gb/s and 1-Tb/s large-scale InP transmitter and receiver PICs and their essential role in the optical communications networks are reviewed.