Low-Jitter and High-Power 40-GHz All-Active Mode-Locked Lasers

Abstract

Abstract-A novel design strategy for the epitaxial structure of monolithic mode-locked semiconductor lasers is presented. Using an all-active design, we fabricate 40-GHz lasers generating 2.8-ps almost chirp-free pulses with record low high-frequency jitter and more than 7-mW fiber coupled output power.

Analysis of Timing Jitter in External-Cavity Mode-Locked Semiconductor Lasers

“…M ODE-LOCKED semiconductor lasers are sources of intense and short optical pulses [1]- [3] attractive for diverse applications, including: optical sampling, clocking, spectroscopy, etc. In particular, the feasibility of these devices in high-speed communication systems, using optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM), relies on the possibility of achieving sufficiently short pulsewidths and low timing jitter (less than 10% the bit period [4]).…”

Long All-Active Monolithic Mode-Locked Lasers With Surface-Etched Bragg Gratings

“…The epitaxial structure is similar to [6], with one 7-nm In Ga As P quantum well as the gain material and Al Ga In As barriers, and is grown in a single epitaxial step. The integration of the DBR is performed by surface-etching the grating and the ridge simultaneously.…”

“…The chips are cleaved to a length of 4.4 mm, and mounted in the same way as in [6]. After mounting, a 98% high reflection (HR) coating is applied to the absorber facet.…”

“…Furthermore, detailed noise characterization has not been reported before. We present a laser that combines an active material design for short pulses with high power and low noise [6], with a deeply surface-etched DBR. To our knowledge, this is the first time an MMLL is integrated with a surface-etched DBR.…”

Metal organic vapor-phase epitaxy of InAs/InGaAsP quantum dots for laser applications at 1.5 μm

“…This structure was processed into 2 lm wide ridge waveguide lasers with different cavity lengths and the devices were soldered epi-side up to AlN heatsinks. 14 No facet coatings were deposited. The lasers were tested in the CW regime at RT.…”