Ring Resonator Lasers using Passive Waveguides and Integrated Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

Abstract

Abstract-We present a review of our work on ring lasers using passive waveguides and couplers (directional and multimode interference) integrated with semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). Two architectures are given in this paper. The first architecture includes the SOA inside the ring cavity. The second architecture also known as ring resonator coupled laser, consists of passive ring resonators having SOAs in the bus waveguides. The increased photon lifetime in the cavity and the tunability of the ring response can be used to make compact, narrow linewith, and widely tunable lasers. Four-wave mixing applications are also addressed.

Tuning a racetrack ring resonator by an integrated dielectric MEMS cantilever

“…They are highly promising building blocks in the field of integrated optical systems, having a wide range of applications including lasers [1], optical switches [2], tunable wavelength filters [3], add/drop multiplexers [4] and biosensors [5]. Tuning of a microring resonator makes it possible to use it as an active element, which can have ample applications in future optical communication networks.…”

Defect assisted coupled resonator optical waveguide: Weak perturbations

“…A solution to the susceptibility of the DACROW to waveguide loss is offered by embedding a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) into the resonator [21,22], or by the use of high Q disk resonators which have already demonstrated loss as low as 0.1 dB/cm [23].…”

Wide tuning characteristics of double-ring coupled lasers

“…The tunable lasers using microring resonators are very desirable sources for the application of WDM networks or optical signal processing systems owing to their compact feature and manifold functionality. Therefore, several approaches for wide tuning laser diodes using ring resonators have been reported [5][6][7][8][9]. A coupled-ring reflector structure for the widely tunable laser diode has been proposed and analyzed in Ref.…”

“…A double-ring coupled laser without an extended waveguide between two rings has been demonstrated in Ref. [8]. The laser structure has the active gain region, passive waveguides, and two rings with integrated platinum resistors on top of the passive waveguides in the ring resonators.…”