Will Ge and GeSn lasers enable Si photonics in the Mid-Infrared?

For the near-infrared (near-IR) optical data communications, silicon photonics became a mature technology. Building on the technological developments associated with datacoms, silicon photonics now expands into the mid-infrared (mid-IR), mostly for the optical gas sensing. Here as well, the development is hampered by the absence of monolithically integrated laser sources compatible with the CMOS fab processing.