Continuous Wave Mid‐Infrared Lasing from Single InAs Nanowires Grown on Silicon

Abstract Extending the emission wavelength of III‐V nanowire (NW) lasers grown on silicon into the mid‐infrared (MIR) spectral range has strong potential for applications. Examples include optical sensing and metrology, as well as integrated silicon photonics for information technologies. NW‐lasers with continuous wave (CW) operation, have remained, however, scarce in the MIR due to significant material physics challenges, and intrinsic effects such as Auger recombination that limit the radiative efficiency. Here, the CW operation of single InAs NW‐lasers site‐selectively grown on Si with emission in the range of 2.4–2.7 µm is reported. The cavity design is optimized via simulations of the threshold material gain and the parameters for selective area growth to minimize the modal gain for the TE 01 optical mode. For NW diameters exceeding 700 nm, lasing under CW optical pumping with low thresholds of 1.4–27 kW cm −2 are obtained from 10 to 90 K for NW lengths ranging from 9–30 µm. The observed lasing behavior is quantified by the observation of clear positive net modal gain (630 cm −1 ) obtained using Hakki‐Paoli analysis. These findings mark an important advancement in the development of nanolasers for integrated MIR photonics.