Glass-clad semiconductor germanium fiber for high-speed photodetecting applications

Abstract

We report the fabrication of a semiconductor germanium fiber with a borosilicate glass cladding. A non-ohmic voltage-current behavior has been observed in germanium fiber. The experiment of the photo-induced electrical response of germanium fibers has been carried out. The germanium fiber array with only three parallel-wired fibers shows a high-speed response to modulated 1.55μm laser irradiation with up to 100 kHz repetition rate. The concept of proof of high-speed photodetectors using fabric germanium array indicates that the glass-clad germanium fibers are promising for building flexible economic large-scale high-speed devices for detecting infrared radiation.