Broadband nanophotonic waveguides and resonators based on epitaxial GaN thin films

We demonstrate broadband, low loss optical waveguiding in single crystalline GaN grown epitaxially on c-plane sapphire wafers through a buffered metal-organic chemical vapor phase deposition process. High Q optical microring resonators are realized in near infrared, infrared, and near visible regimes with intrinsic quality factors exceeding 50 000 at all the wavelengths we studied. TEM analysis of etched waveguide reveals growth and etch-induced defects. Reduction of these defects through improved material and device processing could lead to even lower optical losses and enable a wideband photonic platform based on GaN-on-sapphire material system.