Materials science

Transmission loss

Germanium

Telecommunications

Computer science

Silicon

Wavelength

Physical chemistry

Polarization (electrochemistry)

Physics

Waveguide

Optics

Ranging

Chemistry

Optoelectronics

Optics Express

Germanium-on-silicon waveguides were modeled, fabricated and characterized at wavelengths ranging from 7.5 to 11 µm. Measured waveguide losses are below 5 dB/cm for both TE and TM polarization and reach values of ∼ 1 dB/cm for ≥ 10 µm wavelengths for the TE polarization. This work demonstrates experimentally for the first time that Ge-on-Si is a viable waveguide platform for sensing in the molecular fingerprint spectral region. Detailed modeling and analysis is presented to identify the various loss contributions, showing that with practical techniques losses below 1 dB/cm could be achieved across the full measurement range.

Low loss Ge-on-Si waveguides operating in the 8–14 µm atmospheric transmission window