A III-V-on-Si ultra-dense comb laser

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2016 papers

Abstract

Optical frequency combs emerge as a promising technology that enables highly sensitive, near-real-time spectroscopy with a high resolution. The currently available comb generators are mostly based on bulky and high-cost femtosecond lasers for dense comb generation (line spacing in the range of 100 MHz to 1 GHz). However, their integrated and low-cost counterparts, which are integrated semiconductor mode-locked lasers, are limited by their large comb spacing, small number of lines and broad optical linewidth. In this study, we report a demonstration of a III-V-on-Si comb laser that can function as a compact, low-cost frequency comb generator after frequency stabilization. The use of low-loss passive silicon waveguides enables the integration of a long laser cavity, which enables the laser to be locked in the passive mode at a record-low 1 GHz repetition rate. The 12-nm 10-dB output optical spectrum and the notably small optical mode spacing results in a dense optical comb that consists of over 1400 equally spaced optical lines. The sub-kHz 10-dB radio frequency linewidth and the narrow longitudinal mode linewidth (<400 kHz) indicate notably stable mode-locking. Such integrated dense comb lasers are very promising, for example, for high-resolution and real-time spectroscopy applications.

Related Papers

• → Measurements of longitudinal linewidth and relative intensity noise in ultrahigh-speed mode-locked semiconductor lasers(2006)6 cited
• → Mode-Resolved Measurements of the Linewidth Enhancement Factor of a Fabry–PÉrot Laser(2009)8 cited
• → A novel stabilization method for an optical frequency comb generator(1999)10 cited
• → Linewidth reduction of 1.5-μm grating-loaded external cavity and semiconductor lasers(1986)
• → Linewidth and RIN measurements of longitudinal modes in ultrahigh-speed mode-locked laser diodes(2005)