Quantum dot SOA-silicon external cavity multi-wavelength laser
View Patent ↗A hybrid external cavity multi-wavelength laser using a QD RSOA and a silicon photonics chip is demonstrated. Four lasing modes at 2 nm spacing and less than 3 dB power non-uniformity were observed, with over 20 mW of total output power. Each lasing peak can be successfully modulated at 10 Gb/s. At 10 −9 BER, the receiver power penalty is less than 2.6 dB compared to a conventional commercial laser. An expected application is the provision of a comb laser source for WDM transmission in optical interconnection systems.
1. An optical cavity, comprising:
a substrate having a surface, said surface having situated thereon:
a single optical port configured to provide an optical output beam;
a first mirror element comprising a submicron silicon waveguide, said first mirror element having a first transmittance and a first reflectivity, said first mirror element forming a first optical reflector situated at a first end of the optical cavity, said first mirror element in optical communication with said single optical port; and
a filter element in optical communication with said first mirror element, said filter element configured to pass an optical beam having a selected optical wavelength therethrough; and
an optical gain medium comprising a second mirror element having a second transmittance and a second reflectivity, said second mirror element forming a second optical reflector situated at a second end of the optical cavity.
2. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said substrate is silicon.
3. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said optical gain medium comprises a quantum dot reflective semiconductor optical amplifier.
4. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said first mirror element is a Sagnac loop mirror.
5. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said first mirror element is a broadband reflector.
6. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said first mirror element has a reflectivity that increases as the selected wavelength is increased.
7. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said first mirror element has a variable reflectivity.
8. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said filter element is a micro-ring based filter.
9. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said filter element is a tunable filter.
10. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said filter element is a thermally tunable filter.
11. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said filter element has multiple pass bands.
12. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said second mirror has a reflectivity defined by a facet.
13. The optical cavity of claim 12 , wherein said facet comprises an optical coating.
14. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said selected optical wavelength is a wavelength situated within a wavelength range used in telecommunication.
15. The optical cavity of claim 14 , wherein said selected optical wavelength is a wavelength situated within the O-Band.
16. The optical cavity of claim 14 , wherein said selected optical wavelength is a wavelength situated within the C-Band.
17. The optical cavity of claim 14 , wherein said selected optical wavelength is a wavelength situated within a band selected from the e-Band, the S-Band, the L-Band and the U-Band.
18. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said optical gain medium is optically coupled to said optical cavity via at least one of a butt-coupler, a taper, an inverse taper, a lens, and a lens array.
19. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said optical cavity is configured to be operated without cooling.
20. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said optical cavity is configured to be operated without hermetic sealing.
21. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said optical output beam comprises a single optical wavelength of interest.
22. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said optical output beam comprises a plurality of optical wavelengths of interest.
23. The optical cavity of claim 1 , wherein said optical output beam comprises a narrow linewidth optical output beam.