Two-dimensional porous silicon photonic crystal light emitters

We present the design, fabrication and preliminary experiments of two-dimensional photonic crystal cavities made in nanoporous silicon luminescent at 700-800 nm. Enhancement in photoluminescence extraction efficiency at the resonant wavelength is expected due to Purcell effect and directed radiation pattern defined by the cavity. Such cavities should also enhance nonlinearities exhibited by porous Si beyond what is observed in one-dimensional distributed Bragg reflection cavities due to their small mode volumes and modest quality factors. This design aligns itself well to integration with conventional silicon based electronics on a single chip.