Simple and compact V-cavity semiconductor laser with 50×100 GHz wavelength tuning

Abstract

We report simple and compact V-cavity semiconductor laser capable of full-band wavelength tuning. A half-wave coupler is used to obtain high side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) without any grating or epitaxial regrowth. Temperature induced gain spectrum shift is employed in combination with the Vernier tuning mechanism to extend the wavelength tuning range beyond the free spectral range limit. Wavelength tuning of 50 channels at 100GHz spacing with SMSR up to 38 dB has been demonstrated. We show that with a temperature variation of 35°C, the tuning range can be extended by about 15 nm, in contrast to 0.1 nm/°C for thermo-optic tuning range in grating based lasers. At a fixed temperature, consecutive wavelength tuning of 31 channels was achieved. The response time of the channel switching under the current-tuning regime is measured to be about 20μs. The large tuning range that can cover the full C-band will enable such a simple, compact and potentially low-cost tunable laser to be used in wavelength-agile access and data center networks.

Tunable V-coupled-cavity semiconductor laser monolithically integrated with monitoring photodiodes using deeply etched reflective trenches

“…Different from our previously reported devices [7,13], and wavelength and thus can be used as the laser monitors which will be discussed in Section 4. These deep etched trenches provide not only the high reflectivity that improves the performance of the VCL but also good coupling efficiency to the monolithically integrated MPDs that facilitate the packaging.…”

“…Although there have been many tunable lasers such as sampled grating (SG) distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser [4], the DFB arrays [5] and mechanically tuned MEMS based external cavity laser [5] , they are too expensive because of complicated fabrication processes and tuning algorithms, which limit their wide applications in low cost networks. A simple and compact tunable semiconductor laser based on V-coupled cavities has recently been proposed [6] and experimentally demonstrated [7], which does not require complex gratings and multiple epitaxial regrowth. The V-coupled-cavity laser shows great advantages of simple tuning mechanism based on single electrode for wide wavelength tuning.…”

Regrowth-free single-mode semiconductor laser suitable for monolithic integration based on pits mirror

“…These lasers achieve single-mode operation using various approaches, such as coupled cavities 9,10 and multiple semiconductor ring lasers, 11,12 or exploit mini reflections from index perturbation to create subcavities, such as slotted Fabry-Perot (SFP) lasers. [13][14][15] They provide a high side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) that can exceed 40 dB, a wide tuning range covering the C + L bands, fine tuning step <21 pm∕mA, 16 and output power over 25 mW.…”

Carrier-induced fast wavelength switching in tunable V-cavity laser with quantum well intermixed tuning section

“…Widely tunable lasers that are capable of tuning to any channel on the international telecommunication union (ITU) grid will dramatically reduce the cost of the optical telecommunication systems [1]. V-cavity laser (VCL) is a promising tunable laser solution for low-cost access networks, due to its compactness and fabrication simplicity [2][3][4]. However, all the VCL reported so far adopted heat-induced wavelength tuning, leading to high driving current (>120 mA) and low wavelength switching speed (>10 μs).…”