Integration of Er3+ Emitters in Silicon-on-Insulator Nanodisk Metasurface

Erbium (Er3+) emitters are relevant for optical applications due to their narrow emission line directly in the telecom C-band due to the 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 transition at 1.54 μm. Additionally, they are promising candidates for future quantum technologies when embedded in thin film silicon-on-insulator (SOI) to achieve fabrication scalability and CMOS compatibility. In this paper we integrate Er3+ emitters in SOI metasurfaces made of closely spaced arrays of nanodisks, to study their spontaneous emission via room and cryogenic temperature confocal microscopy, off-resonance and in-resonance photoluminescence excitation at room temperature and time-resolved spectroscopy. This work demonstrates the possibility to adopt CMOS-compatible and fabrication-scalable metasurfaces for controlling and improving the collection efficiency of the spontaneous emission from the Er3+ transition in SOI and that they could be adopted in similar technologically advanced materials.