1.82-μm distributed feedback lasers with InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple-quantum wells for a H2 O sensing system

High-strained InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple quantum wells （MQWs） distributed feedback （DFB） lasers, fabricated using metal organic chemical vapor deposition, are presented at 1.82 μm with a high side-mode-suppression ratio of 49.53 dB. The current- and temperature-tuning rates of the DFB mode wavelength are 0.01 nm/mA and 0.13 nm/℃, respectively. A characteristic temperature of 51 K is also confirmed. The DFB laser demonstrates good performance and can be applied to H₂ O concentration sensing.     

High speed and wide temperature range uncooled 1.3-μm ridge waveguide DFB lasers

A 1.3-μm wavelength vertical-mesa ridge waveguide mulitple-quantum-well （MQW） distributed feedback （DFB） laser with high directly modulated bandwidth and wide operation temperature range is reported. With the optimization of the strained-layer MQWs in the active region, the surrounding graded-index separated-confinement-heterostructure waveguide layers, together with the optimization of the detuning and coupling coefficient of the DFB grating, high directly modulation bandwidth of 16 GHz at room temperature and wide working temperature range from -40 to 85 ℃ are obtained. The mean time to failure （MTTF） is estimated to be over 2×10^6 h. The device is suitable as light source of high-bit-rate optical transmitters with small size and reduced cost.     

Offset quantum-well method for tunable distributed Bragg reflector lasers and electro-absorption modulated distributed feedback lasers

A two-section offset quantum-well structure tunable laser with a tuning range of 7 nm was fabricated using offset quantum-well method. The distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) was realized just by selectively wet etching the multiquantum-well (MQW) layer above the quaternary lower waveguide. A threshold current of 32 mA and an output power of 9 mW at 100 mA were achieved. Furthermore, with this offset structure method, a distributed feedback (DFB) laser was integrated with an electro-absorption modulator (EAM),which was capable of producing 20 dB of optical extinction.     

Design and Fabrication of Six-Channel Complex-Coupled DFB Quantum Cascade Laser Arrays Based on a Sampled Grating

We designed and fabricated a six-channel complex-coupled distributed feedback （DFB） quantum cascade laser arrays based on a sampled Bragg grating. The six-channel DFB laser arrays exhibit a linear tuning range of 74nm centered at a wavelength of 7.55μm at room temperature. Robust single-mode emission with a side mode suppression ratio about 20 dB was observed, even at full power. The used sampled grating and reflectivity coating on the back facet lead to the peak output power varying from 55 to 82 m W with a small difference in slope efficiency from 100 to 128mW/A.     

Low Power Consumption Distributed-Feedback Quantum Cascade Lasers Operating in Continuous-Wave Mode above 90℃ at λ～7.2μm

We report on the design and fabrication of λ~7.2μm distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers for very high temperature cw operation and low electrical power consumption.The cw operation is reported above 90℃.For a 2-mm-long and 10-μm-wide laser coated with high-reflectivity on the rear facet,more than 170 mW of output power is obtained at 20℃ with a threshold power consumption of 2.4 W,corresponding to 30 mW with a threshold power consumption of 3.9 W at 90℃.Robust single-mode emission with a side-mode suppression ratio above 25 dB is continuously tunable by the heat sink temperature or injection current.     

Single-frequency,single-polarization ytterbium-doped fiber laser by self-injection locking

We demonstrated a stable single-frequency,single-polarization operation of ytterbium-doped fiber laser. As a novel practical method to realize single-polarization operation of fiber distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser,we proposed self-injection locking (SIL) with an active fiber ring feedback cavity.The laser has high output power exceeding 15 mW,wavelength of 1053.20 nm,and side-mode suppression ratio greater than 60 dB. The SIL fiber laser shows the improvements in output power and side-mode suppression compared with the fiber DBR laser.No mode-hopping is observed within 2 hours.     

Four-Channel 1.55μm DFB Laser Array Monolithically Integrated with a 4× 1 Multimode-Interference Combiner Based on Nanoimprint Lithography

A monolithically integrated four-channel λ/4 phase shift distributed feedback （DFB） laser array with a 4 × 1 multimode interference combiner is designed and fabricated using nanoimprint lithography. The threshold currents of the lasers are less than 10mA, which are as good as a discrete DFB laser. Moreover, the side-mode suppression ratio is also better than 50 dB. The channel space is about 200 GHz for dense wavelength division multiplexing applications in an 1.55μm system.     

Low Threshold Distributed Feedback Quantum Cascade Lasers with Widely Spaced Emission Wavelengths

We report lasing properties of distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers （DFB QCLs） including a doublephonon-resonance active region, at wavelength of about 8.4 μm. A broad gain spectrum is generated due to the coupling between the lower laser level in the active region and the levels in the injector, and is demonstrated by the lasing spectrum of the corresponding Fabry-Perot QCLs whose width is 0.5 μm at 1.5 times of the threshold current. As a result, the DFB QCLs employing different grating periods exhibit a wavelength span of 0.18μm at room temperature and total wavelength coverage of 0.28μm at various heat sink temperatures. A high side mode suppression ratio of about 30dB and a low threshold current density of 1.78kA/cm^2 are achieved as the lasers operate at room temperature in pulsed mode.     

Four distributed feedback laser array integrated with multimode-interference and semiconductor optical amplifier

Monolithic integration of four 1.55-μm-range InGaAsP/InP distributed feedback (DFB) lasers using varied ridge width with a 4×1-multimode-interference (MMI) optical combiner and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is demonstrated. The average output power and the threshold current are 1.8 mW and 35 mA, respectively, when the injection current of the SOA is 100 mA, with a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) exceeding 40 dB. The four channels have a 1-nm average channel spacing and can operate separately or simultaneously.     

Widely Tunable Two-Section Directly Modulated DBR Lasers for TWDM-PON System

Wavelength tunable and directly modulated distributed Bragg reflector(DBR)lasers with butt-joint technology are designed,fabricated and characterized.The DBR laser consists of a gain section and a DBR section.To increase the electrical isolation between the gain section and the DBR section,parts of a p-doped material in the isolation region are etched off selectively.Over 2 kΩ isolation resistance is realized ultimately without the need of ion implantation,which simplifies the fabrication process.The laser exhibits high speed modulation with a large tunable range.The 3 dB direct modulation bandwidth of the device is over 8 GHz in a 12 nm tunable range.This widely tunable DBR laser with the simple structure is promising as a colorless light source for the next-generation time and wavelength division multiplexed passive optical network(TWDM-PON)systems.     

1.5 μm dual-lateral-mode distributed Bragg reflector laser for terahertz excitation

A terahertz excitation source based on a dual-lateral-mode distributed Bragg reflector(DBR) laser working in the 1.5 μm range is experimentally demonstrated. By optimizing the width of the ridge waveguide, the fundamental and the first-order lateral modes are obtained from the laser. The mode spacing between the two modes is9.68 nm, corresponding to a beat signal of 1.21 THz. By tuning the bias currents of the phase and DBR sections,the wavelengths of the two modes can be tuned by 2 nm, with a small strength difference(5 dB) and a large side-mode suppression ratio(SMSR 45 dB).     

Low Timing Jitter and Tunable Dual-Wavelength Picosecond Pulse Generation from a Fabry--Pérot Laser Diode with External Injection

A novel scheme to generate tunable dual-wavelength optical pulses with low timing jitter at arbitrary repetition rates is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The pulses are generated from a gain-switched Fabry-Pérot laser diode with two external cw beams for injection seeding simultaneously. The cw light is generated by two independent distributed feedback laser diodes, and their wavelengths can be tuned independently by two temperature controllers. The dual-wavelength pulses with the pulse width of 57 ps, the timing jitter of 340 fs, are obtained. The sidemode-suppression ratio of the output pulses is better than 23dB over a 10-nm wavelength tuning range.     

High Power 1060 nm Distributed Feedback Semiconductor Laser

A GaAs based high power distributed feedback （DFB） semiconductor laser with a second-order grating has been demonstrated. An output power of 150row at an injection current of 350mA is realized with a 1-mm cavity length. With a new design of the waveguide structure, the DFB laser maintains a stable single longitudinal mode around 106Ohm with a side mode suppression ratio of larger than 50dB.     

Coherent combining of tunable erbium-doped fiber lasers by a single-mode fiber feedback loop

We experimentally demonstrate the coherent combining of two tunable erbium-doped fiber lasers by using a single-mode fiber feedback loop configuration. A single-mode fiber is arranged in the feedback loop to filter the far-field pattern, and the energy of desired in-phase mode is collected and injected into the resonators of two component fiber lasers. The coherently combined laser is tunable over a wide spectrum ranging from 1536 to 1569 nm, which means that the combining scheme is compatible with wavelength tuning. The effects and necessity of whether adopting polarization controlling measures or not in component lasers are investigated in detail. The results indicate that adding polarization controlling can improve the array＇s coherence, whereas it will decrease the output power and efficiency simultaneously.     

A 795 nm gain coupled distributed feedback semiconductor laser based on tilted waveguides

The 795 nm distributed feedback lasers have great application in pumping the Rb D1 transition. In this paper, in order to realize specific 795 nm lasing, we designed tilted ridge distributed feedback lasers based on purely gain coupled effect induced by periodic current injection windows through changing the angle of the tilted ridge. The fabricated devices were cleaved into 2 mm-cavity-length, including 5 tilted angles. The peak output powers of all devices were above 30 m W.Single longitudinal mode lasing was realized in all tilted Fabry–Perot cavities using periodic current injection windows,with side mode suppression ratio over 30 d B. The total wavelength range covered 8.656 nm at 20℃. It was disclosed theoretically and experimentally that the output powers, threshold currents, and central wavelengths of the tilted ridge purely gain coupled DFB lasers were relevant to the tilted angles. The results will be instructive for future design of DFB laser arrays with different central wavelengths.     

Room temperature continuous-wave operation of a dual-wavelength quantum cascade laser

We report on the design and fabrication of a dual-wavelength switchable quantum cascade laser(QCL) by optimizing the design of a homogeneous active region and combining superposed distributed feedback gratings. Coaxial, single-mode emissions at two different wavelengths were achieved only through adjusting the bias voltage. Room temperature continuous-wave operation with output powers of above 30 mW and 75 mW was realized for single-mode emission at 7.61 μm and 7.06 μm, respectively. The simplif...     

Wideband tunable REC-DFB laser array using thin-film heaters on the submount

A wideband wavelength-tunable 4 × 5 distributed feedback(DFB) semiconductor laser array based on the reconstructionequivalent-chirp(REC) technique using a simple tuning scheme is demonstrated. It consists of 20 DFB lasers with 4 × 5matrix interleaving distributions, two-level cascaded Y-branch optical combiners, and one active semiconductor optical amplifier(SOA), all in-series integrated on one chip. Unlike the traditional thermal-electric cooler(TEC)-based wavelength-tuning scheme, the tunable...     

Integrated lithium niobate single-mode lasers by the Vernier effect

Microcavity lasers based on erbium-doped lithium niobate on insulator(LNOI), which are key devices for LNOI integrated photonics, have attracted significant attention recently. In this study, we report the realization of a C-band single-mode laser using the Vernier effect in two coupled erbium-doped LNOI microrings with different radii under the pump of a 980-nm continuous laser. The laser, operating stably over a large range of pumping power, has a pump threshold of about 200 μW and a side-mode suppression ratio exceeding 26 dB. The high-performance LNOI single-mode laser will promote the development of lithium niobate integrated photonics.     

Polymer gratings based on photopolymerization for low-order distributed feedback polymer lasers

Novel polymer distributed feedback(DFB)gratings are fabricated based on photopolymerization to reduce lasing threshold of polymer lasers.A photopolymer formulation sensitive to 355-nm ultraviolet(UV)light is proposed for the fabrication of polymer gratings and it can be used to form polymer films by spin-coating process.A very low surface-relief depth ranging from 12.5 to about 1.0 nm has been demonstrated with a refractive-index modulation of about 0.012.The experimental results indicate that such polymer gratings have promising potentials for the fabrication of low-order DFB organic semiconductor lasers.     

Integratable and High Speed Complex-Coupled MQW-DFB Lasers Fabricated on Semi-Insulating Substrates

A novel integratable and high speed InGaAsP multi-quantum well （MQW） complex-coupled distributed feedback （DFB） laser is successfully fabricated on a semi-insulating substrate. The fabricated ridge DFB laser exhibits a threshold current of 26 mA, a slope efficiency of 0. 14 W·A^-1 and a side mode suppression ratio of 40 dB together with a 3 dB bandwidth of more than 8 GHz. The device is suitable for 10 Gbit/s optical fiber communication.