Illuminating the future of silicon photonics: optical coupling of carbon nanotubes to microrings

Advances in carbon nanotube material quality and processing techniques have led to an increased interest in nanotube photonics. In particular, emission in the telecommunication wavelengths makes nanotubes compatible with silicon photonics. Noury et al (2014 Nanotechnology 25 215201) have reported on carbon nanotube photoluminescence coupled to silicon microring resonators, underscoring the advantage of combining carbon nanotube emitters with silicon photonics. Their results open up the possibility of using nanotubes in other waveguide-based devices, taking advantage of well-established technologies.