Low phase noise hybrid silicon mode-locked lasers

doi:10.1007/s12200-014-0420-8

Front. Optoelectron.

2014, Vol. 7

Issue (3) : 265-276 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-014-0420-8

REVIEW ARTICLE

Low phase noise hybrid silicon mode-locked lasers

Sudharsanan SRINIVASAN^1,^*(

),Michael DAVENPORT¹,Martijn J. R. HECK²,John HUTCHINSON³,Erik NORBERG³,Gregory FISH³,John BOWERS¹

1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara CA 93106, USA
2. Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
3. Aurrion Inc., Goleta CA 93117, USA

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Abstract

In this paper, we review recent results on hybrid silicon mode-locked lasers with a focus on low phase noise optical pulse generation. Taking a high level design approach to lowering phase noise, we show the need for long on-chip optical delay lines for mode-locked lasers to reach and overcome material limits. Key results include demonstration of the longest (cavity length 9 cm) integrated on-chip mode locked laser, 14 dB reduction of Lorentzian noise on a 20 GHz radio-frequency (RF) signal, and greater than 55 dB optical supermode noise suppression using harmonically mode locked long cavity laser, 10 GHz passively mode locked laser with 15 kHz linewidth using on-chip all optical feedback stabilization.

Keywords optoelectronic devices mode-locked lasers semiconductor lasers

Corresponding Author(s): Sudharsanan SRINIVASAN

Issue Date: 09 September 2014

Cite this article:

Sudharsanan SRINIVASAN,Michael DAVENPORT,Martijn J. R. HECK, et al. Low phase noise hybrid silicon mode-locked lasers[J]. Front. Optoelectron., 2014, 7(3): 265-276.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/10.1007/s12200-014-0420-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/Y2014/V7/I3/265

Fig.1 Plot of timing jitter requirement versus sampling rate for different bits of resolution

Fig.2 (a) Photograph of 200 mm SOI wafer with pre-patterned waveguides. The orange lines have been added to demarcate die boundaries; (b) schematic cross-section of the gain section identifying the different layers with the optical mode overlaid

Fig.3 Schematic diagram of colliding pulse mode-locked laser with an isolated saturable absorber in the middle

Fig.4 Optical spectrum of the laser shown in Fig. 3 with nearly 10 dB of supermode suppression [12]

Fig.5 (a) Electrical spectrum of the laser shown in Fig. 3 with 30 dB suppression of the fundamental; (b) detailed view of the RF peak at 18.32 GHz. Resolution bandwidths in (a) and (b) are 2 MHz and 20 kHz respectively [12]; (c) single side-band phase noise of the 18.32 GHz signal

Fig.6 (a) Photograph of the ring cavity colliding pulse mode-locked laser. The letters are added for clarity and denote the P and N contacts for the centered absorber and the two gain sections on either side; (b) schematic of the gain, absorber and waveguide sections inside the laser cavity. SA-saturable absorber, SOA-semiconductor optical amplifier

Fig.7 (a) Optical spectrum of the ring cavity laser showing 20 GHz spaced optical lines (resolution bandwidth 20 MHz) and (b) electrical spectrum showing the fundamental and its harmonic. Notice the spurs at 1.5 and 18.5 GHz

Fig.8 Schematic of 9 cm long actively mode-locked laser showing the various active and passive components. Black lines–silicon waveguides, black box–50/50 MMI couplers [14]

Fig.9 (a) Optical spectrum at 12 dBm RF-power at 927 MHz. The resolution bandwidth used was 0.06 nm; (b) RF-spectra obtained at 20 dBm RF-power. Resolution bandwidth was 5 MHz; (c) corresponding time-domain trace obtained with a 53 GHz DCA [14]

Fig.10 (a) RF-spectra obtained with 20 dBm injection at 7481.8 MHz (8th harmonic). Resolution bandwidth was 5 MHz [14]; (b) single sideband phase noise for fundamental (blue) and 8th (black) harmonic mode-locking. Red diamonds show the synthesizer floor specified at 1 GHz

Fig.11 Schematic of 4 cm long ring cavity colliding pulse mode-locked laser showing the various active and passive components. Black lines–silicon waveguides, SA-saturable absorber, SOA-semiconductor optical amplifier [16]

Fig.12 (a) Optical spectrum of 2 GHz ring cavity passively mode locked laser showing equally spaced optical lines (resolution bandwidth 20 MHz); (b) electrical spectrum showing the fundamental and its harmonics and (c) autocorrelation trace of the optical output [16]

Fig.13 Hybrid mode locking results for 2 GHz cavity laser. (a) and (c) show the RF spectra obtained with 0 dBm injection at 7.96 GHz (4th harmonic) and 10 dBm injection at 20 GHz (10th harmonic) respectively. Resolution bandwidth was 3 MHz; (b) and (d) show the corresponding optical spectra with a resolution bandwidth of 20 MHz [16]

Fig.14 Schematic of 4 cm long ring cavity colliding pulse mode-locked laser showing the various active and passive components. Black lines–silicon waveguides, SA-saturable absorber, SOA-semiconductor optical amplifier [16]

Fig.15 (a) Optical spectrum; (b) close-up into the dashed box region in (a) showing 55 dB supermode suppression. Resolution bandwidth was 20 MHz; (c) electrical spectrum for the MLLD with a 20 GHz FSR intra-cavity filter. Resolution bandwidth was 3 MHz [16]

Fig.16 (a) Optical linewidth measurement and (b) single sideband phase noise of 20 GHz signal for the fundamental and harmonic MLLDs. The black lines in both plots are a guide to the eye with a slope of 20dB per decade

Fig.17 Single sideband phase noise of 20 GHz signal for the harmonic MLLD when the saturable absorber is driven with 10 dBm input power

Fig.18 Schematic of coupled linear cavity colliding pulse mode-locked laser showing the various active and passive components. Black lines–silicon waveguides, SA-saturable absorber, SOA-semiconductor optical amplifier

Fig.19 (a) RF spectra showing the laser operation with the coupled cavity SOA off (“decoupled”) and the SOA biased at 300 mA (“coupled”). (b) Wide span view of the optical spectrum in coupled cavity operation and (c) close–up into a single spectral line with and without feedback stabilization

Tab.1 Phase noise data for the various mode locked lasers discussed in the text showing the improvement from long cavity lengths

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