Si/GaSb Micro Core Glass fiber

Abstract

Semiconductor core glass fibers are a promising platform for optoelectronic and optical applications with an enormous potential. Glass fibers with homogeneous semiconductor cores have mainly studied so far, but recent attempts have been made to add more functionality to glass fibers using semiconductor alloys such as SiGe. In this work, we fabricated the first semiconductor core fiber using eutectic alloy. Si/GaSb core fibers are expected to be a versatile tool for research on a solidification process and microstructures of eutectic systems in the core fiber and electrical, optical properties of III-V and IV semiconductor mixture. Here, we report the fabrication of Si/GaSb core glass fibers using the molten core fiber drawing technique and the scanning of a focused CO$_2$ laser on the glass fiber to heat the Si/GaSb cores locally and recrystallize them. We observed super rapid single crystallization of Si and epitaxial growth of GaSb on the Si from as-drawn Si/GaSb core fibers in a long distance. The CO$_2$ laser treatment could segregate GaSb from Si and recrystallize Si to a single crystalline.