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This paper describes the design, fabrication, and record performance of a new class of ultra-wideband wavelength tuning, ultra-low noise semiconductor laser, the Integrated Coherent Tunable Laser (ICTL). The ICTL device is designed for, and fabricated in, a CMOS foundry based Silicon Photonics platform, utilizing heterogeneous integration of III-V material to create the integrated gain section of the laser - enabling high-volume mass-market manufacturing at low cost and with high reliability. The ICTL incorporates three or more ultra-low loss micro-ring resonators, with large ring size, in a Sagnac loop reflector geometry, creating exceptional laser reflector performance, plus an extended laser cavity length that enables highly-coherent output; ultra-low linewidth and phase noise. This paper describes record integrated laser performance; 118 nm wavelength tuning, covering S-, C- and L-bands, with Lorentzian linewidth

Silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides with ultra-low optical loss enable integrated photonic applications including low noise, narrow linewidth lasers, chip-scale nonlinear photonics, and microwave photonics. Lasers are key components to SiN photonic integrated circuits (PICs), but are difficult to fully integrate with low-index SiN waveguides due to their large mismatch with the high-index III-V gain materials. The recent demonstration of multilayer heterogeneous integration provides a practical solution and enabled the first-generation of lasers fully integrated with SiN waveguides. However, a laser with high device yield and high output power at telecommunication wavelengths, where photonics applications are clustered, is still missing, hindered by large mode transition loss, non-optimized cavity design, and a complicated fabrication process. Here, we report high-performance lasers on SiN with tens of milliwatts output power through the SiN waveguide and sub-kHz fundamental linewidth, addressing all the aforementioned issues. We also show Hertz-level fundamental linewidth lasers are achievable with the developed integration techniques. These lasers, together with high-Q SiN resonators, mark a milestone towards a fully integrated low-noise silicon nitride photonics platform. This laser should find potential applications in LIDAR, microwave photonics and coherent optical communications., Achieving high output power and low noise integrated lasers is a major challenge. Here the authors experimentally demonstrate integrated lasers from a Si/SiN heterogeneous platform that shows Hertz-level linewidth, paving the way toward fully integrating low-noise silicon nitride photonics in volume using real devices for lasing.

Precision optical-frequency and phase synchronization over fibre is critical for a variety of applications, from timekeeping to quantum optics. Such applications utilize ultra-coherent sources based on stabilized table-top laser systems. Chip-scale versions of these systems may dramatically broaden the application landscape by reducing the cost, size and power of such exquisite sources. Links based on the required narrow-linewidth integrated lasers, compact reference cavities and control methodologies have not yet been presented. Here, we demonstrate an optically synchronized link that achieves an ultralow residual phase error variance of 3 × 10−4 rad2 at the receiver, using chip-scale stabilized lasers with laser linewidth of ~30 Hz and instability below 2 × 10−13 at 50 ms. This performance is made possible with integrated Brillouin lasers, compact reference cavities and a novel low-bandwidth optical-frequency-stabilized phase-locked loop. These results demonstrate a path towards low-power, precision applications including distributed atomic clocks, quantum links, database synchronization and digital-signal-processor-free coherent fibre interconnects. An optically synchronized precision fibre link based on two independent chip-scale cavity-stabilized stimulated Brillouin scattering lasers is demonstrated. An ultralow 3 × 10−4 rad2 residual phase error variance is achieved between the mutually coherent transmit and receive lasers.

This paper presents recent results on widely-tunable narrow-linewidth semiconductor lasers using a ring-resonator based mirror as the extended cavity. Two generations of lasers on the heterogeneous Si/InP photonic platform are presented. The first-generation lasers, with a total footprint smaller than 0.81 mm2, showed an intrinsic linewidth of ∼2 kHz over a 40 nm wavelength tuning range across C+L bands. The second-generation lasers using ultra-low loss silicon waveguides and a novel cavity design achieved an intrinsic linewidth below 220 Hz. The lasers also possess an ultrawide wavelength tuning range of 110 nm across three optical communication bands (S+C+L). These are records among all fully integrated semiconductor lasers reported in the literature.

Optical isolators and circulators are fundamental building block in photonic integrated circuits to block undesired reflections and routing light according to a prescribed direction. In silicon photonics, heterogeneous integration of magneto-optic garnet bonded on a pre-patterned silicon layer has been demonstrated to be an effective solution for manufacturing optical isolators and circulators for TM polarized light. However, most integrated semiconductor lasers emit TE polarized light, which indicates the need to find a reliable solution for this polarization. In this paper, we demonstrated broadband optical isolators and circulators for TE polarized light based on heterogeneous bonding on the silicon photonics platform. To achieve this goal, an integrated adiabatic coupler and a broadband polarization rotator are designed and optimized. The nonreciprocal behavior is induced through an energy-efficient integrated electromagnet with a minimum power consumption of 3 mW. Two isolators/circulators are fabricated with small and large free spectral range, respectively. In the former case, an optical isolation ratio as large as 30 dB is measured at 1555 nm with an insertion loss of 18 dB, while for the broadband circulator, an optical isolation larger than 15 dB is guaranteed over more than 14 nm (1.75 THz) for all port combinations with an insertion loss between 14 and 18 dB at 1560 nm. Finally, it has been theoretically shown that the insertion loss can be reduced below 6 dB with design and fabrication improvements. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the proposed integrated TE optical circulator is the first experimental demonstration of this device in silicon photonics.

We report an ultra-high Q Si3N4 waveguide resonator Brillouin laser stabilized to an identical waveguide resonator to achieve a linewidth of 292 Hz and a record high stability of 6.5 × 10–13 at 8 ms.

Silicon Photonics foundry based Extended-Distributed Bragg Reflector (E-DBR) lasers for automotive FMCW LiDAR systems are described, demonstrating record Lorentzian linewidths

Silicon nitride has excellent properties for photonic integrated circuits, where integration of lasers makes many new devices possible. Here we show recent progress of high performance heterogeneously integrated lasers using silicon nitride waveguides.

We demonstrate the first heterogeneously integrated laser with a Si3N4 external cavity. Through a multilayer heterogeneous integration with InP and Si, the laser shows narrow linewidth and high temperature stability expected from a Si3N4 cavity.

We demonstrate a chip-scale ultra-narrow-linewidth stimulated Brillouin scattering laser pumped by a narrow-linewidth, tunable silicon/III-V laser. Reduction of ~600x in fundamental linewidth (1.1kHz to 1.8Hz) and ~9x in integral linewidth (110kHz to 12kHz) is achieved.

We demonstrate a DSP-free 16-QAM/50GBd link based on independent transmit and LO frequency-stabilized ultra-narrow-linewidth SBS lasers, with ~40Hz integral linewidths and 7x10-14 fractional frequency stability. The low-BW optical-frequency-stabilized-PLL with 3×10-4 rad2 phase error operates within 1% of DSP and self-homodyne.

Optical circulators that unidirectionally route light could lead to bidirectional operations in applications in data centers and telecommunications, as well as sensors. In this work, to the best of our knowledge, we present the first realization of integrated optical circulators on silicon that are electrically driven and dynamically reconfigurable. The proposed device utilizes silicon microrings with a bonded magneto-optic cladding alongside an integrated electromagnet for nonreciprocal behavior. This novel approach does not use a permanent magnet and, for this reason, it is more attractive for packaging and further integration with lasers and other photonic devices. We use this device architecture to demonstrate 4- and 6-port optical circulators with up to 14.4 dB of isolation and propose a framework to extend the design to an arbitrary number of ports. Finally, we demonstrate that it is possible to switch the electromagnet and reconfigure the circulator on a sub-nanosecond timescale, potentially adding a new level of device functionality.

Silicon nitride (Si3N4), as a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) material, finds wide use in modern integrated circuit (IC) technology. The past decade has witnessed tremendous development of Si3N4 in photonic areas, with innovations in nonlinear photonics, optical sensing, etc. However, the lack of an integrated laser with high performance prohibits the large-scale integration of Si3N4 waveguides into complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Here, we demonstrate a novel III-V/Si/Si3N4 structure to enable efficient electrically pumped lasing in a Si3N4 based laser external cavity. The laser shows superior temperature stability and low phase noise compared with lasers purely dependent on semiconductors. Beyond this, the demonstrated multilayer heterogeneous integration provides a practical path to incorporate efficient optical gain with various low-refractive-index materials. Multilayer heterogeneous integration could extend the capabilities of semiconductor lasers to improve performance and enable a new class of devices such as integrated optical clocks and optical gyroscopes., 14 pages, 3 figures

Photonics chip-based soliton microcombs have been used in many applications including LIDAR, spectroscopy, coherent communication and astronomical spectrometer calibration [1]. Current-initiated soliton microcombs have been demonstrated [2, 3] recently, signifying improvements in the fabrication of high-Q Si 3 N 4 microresonators. However, both approaches suffer from limited input laser power, thus only demonstrated single-soliton at repetition rates above 149 GHz, which are challenging to detect with commercially available photodetectors. Here we demonstrate a single-soliton generation in 100-GHz-FSR Si 3 N 4 microresonators fabricated using the photonic Damascene reflow process [4], yielding the intrinsic Q-factor exceeding 15 million [5]. Using a compact hybrid laser with narrow linewidth, low relative intensity noise (−160 dBc/Hz at f offset =100 kHz) and high output power up to 100 mW [6], different comb states are observed by simply changing the current of the laser diode, without the need of complex tuning mechanism such as a single sideband modulator [7]. As the laser noise is directly transferred to the soliton comb line, this low-noise laser can be utilized in applications where the phase noise is a critical parameter, e.g. low-noise microwave generation or coherent communication. The experimental setup shown in Fig. 1 (a) consists of an ULN laser operated by a current source and temperature controllers to tune its frequency and power. After the light is coupled into the Si 3 N 4 photonic chip via double inverse nano tapers [8], the temperature of FBG/GC is changed to align the laser wavelength to the resonance of the microresonator. The laser diode current is increased (≈ 330 mA) until soliton existence range is sufficiently long. This is indicated by transmission signal directly observed after the chip on the photodetector (Fig. 1 c). Due to high-Q factor of the Si 3 N 4 , the soliton state can be accessed via simply frequency forward tuning [9], without the need of any complex soliton tuning mechanism. Further, different comb states are observed, i.e. modulation instability, multi-soliton state and single-soliton state, via laser diode current tuning. The coherence properties of the soliton-comb teeth is asserted by performing a heterodyne beatnote measurement using a reference laser with a short-time linewidth of 10 kHz (Fig. 1b). The soliton spectrum is fitted with a sech2 function corresponding to a 3 dB bandwidth of ≈19.3 nm and a ≈131.5 fs pulse.

Using ultralow loss waveguides and a novel cavity design, we demonstrate fully integrated lasers on silicon with a fundamental linewidth lower than 200 Hz. The lasers also possess an ultrawide wavelength tuning range of 110 nm across three optical communication bands (S+C+L). These are record results for all fully integrated semiconductor lasers that have ever been reported in literature.

As data center ethernet switches scale towards 100Tbps, the fiber interconnect will face significant cost, power and engineering barriers. We describe FRESCO, a fiber data center interconnect (DCI) that brings highly coherent WDM Terabit links inside the data center without the need for DSPs and other power consuming technologies. FRESCO is based on integrated ultra-stable, ultra-low linewidth laser, frequency comb and silicon photonic transceiver technologies.

We demonstrate single-mode E-DBR lasers with 1kHz linewidth and >37mW output power, and ring-assisted E-DBR lasers with 500Hz linewidth, by heterogeneously integrating III-V gain material with a 15mm long ultra-low loss silicon waveguide-based Bragg reflector.

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) is a widely used complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) compatible material in modern IC industry and recent years have witnessed tremendous development of Si3N4 in photonics. The benefits of Si3N4 in photonics include low loss, low thermo optic coefficient and negligible nonlinear absorption at telecom wavelengths. Devices based on Si3N4 waveguides innovates in the field of nonlinear photonics, sensing, microwave photonics and so on. However, they are all dependent on the excellent passive properties of Si3N4. There are no successful demonstrations of fully integrated laser with Si3N4 yet. For an external cavity laser design, it is beneficial to have a low loss waveguide. A low loss waveguide platform can enable a long optical cavity which can greatly reduce the laser phase noise. Butt-coupled hybrid integrated lasers are extensively studied using Si3N4 cavity, but they are based on separate chips and are not scalable for large volume integration. Heterogeneous integration of III-V material and Si has achieved great success in the past years, offering the silicon photonics industry with low-cost, high-performance silicon photonic integrated circuits fully integrated with lasers. For the heterogeneous integration of III-V material with Si3N4, the biggest challenge is the large index mismatch. Typical III-V epi used for heterogeneous lasers is about 2 μm thick and extreme tapering cannot facilitate a high coupling efficiency between the III-V layer and Si3N4 layer. In this work, we used an intermediate Si layer to bridge the index mismatch between the III-V and Si3N4 layer. By using multilayer heterogeneous integration shown in Fig.1 (a), we enable a III-V/Si/Si3N4 structure to efficiently couple the mode between III-V/Si and Si/Si3N4. Based on this structure, we designed the III-V/Si/Si3N4 laser using an external Si3N4 spiral grating as the feedback cavity. This spiral grating provides the narrow-band optical feedback and determines the laser wavelength. The laser configuration is shown in Fig. 1(b). The laser performance is summarized in Fig. 1 (c)-(e). The lasing wavelength is at 1546 nm and the laser has over 58 dB side mode suppression ratio (SMSR). This shows the excellent mode selectivity from the 20 mm long Si3N4 spiral grating. We measured the frequency noise of the laser. With optimized loop mirror reflectivity, the laser fundamental linewidth is about 4 KHz. This linewidth can be further improved by lowering the Si3N4 waveguide loss. We anticipate the laser fundamental linewidth can be reduced to below 100 Hz using this design. Another advantage of integrating Si3N4 into the laser cavity is to have much higher temperature stability. By comparison, III-V/Si/Si3N4 laser wavelength shifts by only 0.47 nm for 45 oC change, while for a III-V/Si DBR laser this wavelength shift is 3.3 nm. This is over 7x difference and is a result of the low thermo-optic coefficient of Si3N4. When combined with Si3N4 based arrayed waveguide gratings, our laser can be potentially used in dense wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) systems. The successful demonstration of this multilayer heterogeneous integration will enable a whole new class of devices that require low loss waveguides and are presently not integrated. This is a key step in fully exploiting the capabilities of wafer-bonding technologies. We anticipate this platform can take narrow-linewidth semiconductor laser performance to a new level. Figure 1

High-Q Si ring resonators play an important role in the development of widely tunable heterogeneously integrated lasers. However, while a high Q-factor (Q > 1 million) is important for ring resonators in a laser cavity, the parasitic high-power density in a Si resonator can deteriorate the laser performance at high power levels due to nonlinear loss. Here, we experimentally show that this detrimental effect can happen at moderate power levels (a few milliwatts) where typical heterogeneously integrated lasers work. We further compare different ring resonators, including extended Si ring resonators and Si3N4 ring resonators and provide practical approaches to minimize this effect. Our results provide explanations and guidelines for high-Q ring resonator designs in heterogeneously integrated tunable lasers, and they are also applicable for hybrid integrated butt-coupled lasers.

We present recent progress in optical isolators and circulators fabricated though bonding magneto-optic garnet on an SOI wafer. The nonreciprocal behavior is induced through an integrated electromagnet. Large isolation, wide isolation bandwidth and tunability are demonstrated with lower power consumption.

We demonstrate fully integrated optical isolators using bonded Ce:YIG on silicon microrings with an integrated electromagnet. The isolator operates for TE mode input light and can be tuned between 1540 to 1580nm with >20dB isolation.

We demonstrate widely tunable triple/quad ring-resonator reflectors using ultra-low loss Si 3 N 4 waveguides. A single reflection peak with 2.6 pm bandwidth, > 15 dB SMSR across > 45 nm tuning range is demonstrated. This tunable reflector enables integrated narrow linewidth lasers and high-performance filters.

A single-soliton state is generated in a micro-resonator using a customized low-noise diode laser. This demonstration greatly simplifies the soliton generation setup and represents a significant step forward to a fully integrated soliton comb system.

A single-soliton state is generated in a micro-resonator using a customized low-noise diode laser. This demonstration greatly simplifies the soliton generation setup and represents a significant step forward to a fully integrated soliton comb system.

Background White matter (WM) injury is common after neonatal cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). We have demonstrated that the inflammatory response to CPB is an important mechanism of WM injury. Microglia are brain-specific immune cells that respond to inflammation and can exacerbate injury. We hypothesized that microglia activation contributes to WM injury caused by CPB. Methods Juvenile piglets were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 CPB-induced brain insults (1, no-CPB; 2, full-flow CPB; 3, CPB and circulatory arrest). Neurobehavioral tests were performed. Animals were sacrificed 3 days or 4 weeks postoperatively. Microglia and proliferating cells were immunohistologically identified. Seven analyzed WM regions were further categorized into 3 fiber connections (1, commissural; 2, projection; 3, association fibers). Results Microglia numbers significantly increased on day 3 after CPB and circulatory arrest, but not after full-flow CPB. Fiber categories did not affect these changes. On post-CPB week 4, proliferating cell number, blood leukocyte number, interleukin (IL)-6 levels, and neurologic scores had normalized. However, both full-flow CPB and CPB and circulatory arrest displayed significant increases in the microglia number compared with control. Thus brain-specific inflammation after CPB persists despite no changes in systemic biomarkers. Microglia number was significantly different among fiber categories, being highest in association and lowest in commissural connections. Thus there was a WM fiber-dependent microglia reaction to CPB. Conclusions This study demonstrates prolonged microglia activation in WM after CPB. This brain-specific inflammatory response is systemically silent. It is connection fiber-dependent which may impact specific connectivity deficits observed after CPB. Controlling microglia activation after CPB is a potential therapeutic intervention to limit neurologic deficits after CPB.

An external-cavity diode laser is reported with ultralow noise, high power coupled to a fiber, and fast tunability. These characteristics enable the generation of an optical frequency comb in a silica micro-resonator with a single-soliton state. Neither an optical modulator nor an amplifier was used in the experiment. This demonstration greatly simplifies the soliton generation setup and represents a significant step forward to a fully integrated soliton comb system., 7 pages, 5 figures

In this paper, ultra-low noise hybrid lasers operating with high output power are demonstrated. These hybrid lasers provide very low relative intensity noise, below −165dB/Hz, extremely low phase noise, and Lorentzian linewidths as low as 15 Hz, enabling key RF Photonics and Optical Sensing applications.

We demonstrate a tunable optical time delay line based on Si 3 N 4 ring resonators. A continuously tunable 1.4 ns optical delay is achieved with over 3.5 GHz bandwidth. The maximum tunable delay can be easily extended to several nanoseconds by modifying the ring coupler κ.

A novel piezoelectric actuator is fabricated on a suspended silicon nitride ring resonator to tune the optical resonance via mechanical deformation. Fabricated devices exhibit tuning across a full free spectral range by applying 16 V across the piezoelectric.

We experimentally demonstrate a Mach-Zehnder based optical isolator in silicon photonics. A maximum isolation ratio larger than 30dB is measured, while more than 18dB of isolation is guaranteed over 15nm-wide bandwidth. Finally, the isolation wavelength is effectively tuned over 72nm.

Background Newly developed white matter ( WM ) injury is common after cardiopulmonary bypass ( CPB ) in severe/complex congenital heart disease. Fractional anisotropy ( FA ) allows measurement of macroscopic organization of WM pathology but has rarely been applied after CPB . The aims of our animal study were to define CPB ‐induced FA alterations and to determine correlations between these changes and cellular events after congenital heart disease surgery. Methods and Results Normal porcine WM development was first assessed between 3 and 7 weeks of age: 3‐week‐old piglets were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 CPB ‐induced insults. FA was analyzed in 31 WM structures. WM oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and microglia were assessed immunohistologically. Normal porcine WM development resembles human WM development in early infancy. We found region‐specific WM vulnerability to insults associated with CPB . FA changes after CPB were also insult dependent. Within various WM areas, WM within the frontal cortex was susceptible, suggesting that FA in the frontal cortex should be a biomarker for WM injury after CPB . FA increases occur parallel to cellular processes of WM maturation during normal development; however, they are altered following surgery. CPB ‐induced oligodendrocyte dysmaturation, astrogliosis, and microglial expansion affect these changes. FA enabled capturing CPB ‐induced cellular events 4 weeks postoperatively. Regions most resilient to CPB ‐induced FA reduction were those that maintained mature oligodendrocytes. Conclusions Reducing alterations of oligodendrocyte development in the frontal cortex can be both a metric and a goal to improve neurodevelopmental impairment in the congenital heart disease population. Studies using this model can provide important data needed to better interpret human imaging studies.

We demonstrate ultra-narrow linewidth fixed wavelength hybrid lasers composing a semiconductor gain chip and extended silicon nitride Bragg grating. Fabricated ultra-low κ Bragg gratings provide a narrow bandwidth and high side-lobe suppression ratio. A single-wavelength 1544 nm hybrid extended-distributed Bragg reflector laser with 24 mW output power and a Lorentzian linewidth of 320 Hz is demonstrated, providing a high-performance light source for on- and off-chip applications.

We demonstrate a fully integrated extended distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser with ∼1 kHz linewidth and over 37 mW output power, as well as a ring-assisted DBR laser with less than 500 Hz linewidth. The extended DBR lasers are fabricated by heterogeneously integrating III-V material on Si as a gain section plus a 15 mm long, low-kappa Bragg grating reflector in an ultralow-loss silicon waveguide. The low waveguide loss (0.16 dB/cm) and long Bragg grating with narrow bandwidth (2.9 GHz) are essential to reducing the laser linewidth while maintaining high output power and single-mode operation. The combination of narrow linewidth and high power enable its use in coherent communications, RF photonics, and optical sensing.

We investigate three approaches to low perturbation gratings to achieve lower linewidths in filters and semiconductor lasers. The three designs, which are labeled post, sampled, and high order, are DUV lithography compatible and were fabricated on 90 nm thick Si(3)N(4) strip waveguides. Reflection and transmission spectra measurements show coupling constant, kappa, values ranging from 0.23 cm(‑1) to 1.2 cm(‑1) with FWHM values of 74 pm to 116 pm. We discuss the tradeoffs between these geometries in terms of lowest linewidth, apodization, and curved waveguide layout. These results enable long cavity single mode lasers with kHz level linewidths on a monolithic platform.

The invention provides a new linearized electro-optic modulator in which linearization is achieved by modulating the index of a Bragg grating reflector placed in the arm(s) of a Michelson Interferometer. This grating-assisted Michelson Interferometer (GAMI) modulator operates as either an intensity or amplitude modulator, and is shown to significantly improve the linearity of microwave photonics links. Furthermore, this modulator improves the performance of optical communication systems using advanced modulation formats.

We demonstrate integrated optical isolators with broadband behavior for the standard silicon-on-insulator platform. We achieve over 20 dB of optical isolation across 18 nm of optical bandwidth. The isolator is completely electrically controlled and does not require a permanent magnet. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability to tune the central operating wavelength of the isolator across 100 nm, which covers the entire S + C telecom bands. These devices show promise for integration in optical systems in which broadband isolation is needed such as wavelength multiplexed systems or optical sensors.

This paper described the first results demonstrating the Super-Ring tuning concept applied to a 40 microresonator based TTD device, operating with the Balanced SCISSOR scheme. Tunable delay up to 515ps of a 20GHz BW RF photonic signal was shown, using only two drive voltages, with SFDR over 110dB.Hz2/3 for delays up to 300ps.

This paper describes the essential elements for creating a practical wide bandwidth directly modulated laser source. This includes considerations of the intrinsic limitations of the laser structure, due to the resonant frequency and damping of the laser output, together with carrier transport issues to allow carriers in the device active region to be efficiently modulated at high speeds. The use of a P-doped compressively strained multiple-quantum well active region to provide high intrinsic speed and remove transport limitations is described, together with record setting results of 25 GHz modulation bandwidth for a 1.55 μm Fabry–Perot laser and 26 GHz bandwidth for a 1.55 μm DFB laser. The challenges of providing high bandwidth electrical connections to the laser on a suitable submount, together with fiber attachment and microwave packaging are discussed. Results of fully packaged 1.55 μm DFB laser with 25 GHz modulation bandwidth are shown. Digital modulation of the packaged 1.55 μm DFB including impedance matching is described, and the transient wavelength chirp is presented. This low chirp is reduced further using an optical filter, to provide a 10 GBit/s source that can transmit error free over 38.5 km of standard optical fiber.

Rapid decrease of differential gain has been determined to dominate the temperature dependence of threshold current in 1.3-/spl mu/m multiquantum well and bulk active lasers giving rise to low values of T/sub 0/. Extensive experimental characterization of each type of device is described. Results are presented for the dependence of gain on chemical potential and carrier density as a function of temperature. The data indicate the important role of the temperature-insensitive, carrier density dependent chemical potential in determining differential gain. Modeling of the temperature dependence of threshold carrier density in MQW and bulk active lasers based on a detailed band theory calculation is described. The calculated value of T/sub 0/ depends on the structure of the active layer, e.g., multiquantum well versus bulk. However, the calculated values are substantially higher than measured. >

The authors report a mode-locked pulse source with extremely wide operating frequency range and very stable operation, through the use of a long, linearly chirped Bragg reflector as the output coupler integrated in a fiber external cavity. A 1.55 mu m strained MQW laser diode is used, with one facet high reflectivity (HR) coated for improved cavity Q, and the other antireflection (AR) coated to allow coupling to the external cavity and suppress Fabry-Perot modes. Near-transform-limited pulses are obtained over a frequency range of 700 MHz around a system operating frequency of 2.488 GHz, with pulsewidths of 50 ps, as required for a practical soliton transmission system. >

The authors describe a new technique for extracting the intrinsic laser-diode dynamic properties accurately. This simple technique eliminates the need for accurate microwave calibration of the test equipment and problems of microwave reflections, nonideal frequency response of laser mount, and detector. The effect of the parasitic components of the laser diode are also eliminated from the results so that measurements of important dynamic properties of the laser can be found up to high frequencies (10-20 GHz) on standard laser diodes. The techinque being used to measure variations of resonance peak and damping factor at different bias levels for a standard bulk active region 1.3 mu m laser diode is shown. >

Important design considerations for high-speed GaInAsP 1.3-microm surface-emitting lasers are described. Modified rate equations for surface-emitting lasers and a small-signal analysis are used to calculate the frequency response versus the mirror reflectivity. For the structure analyzed, the results predict optimum reflectivities of 98% for highfrequency operation and maximum quantum efficiency. Strong gain-saturation effects are predicted owing to the high photon densities that occur in these devices. As the mirror thickness increases, the frequency response of the laser reduces greatly. The effect of heating is found to be important and is included in the analysis.

We demonstrate a distortion free tunable delays as long as 72 ps with a 10 GHz bandwidth using thermally tuned silicon microring resonators. The device is compact measuring only 30 µm wide by 250 µm long.

An electroabsorption modulated laser (EML) is linearized by emulation and reversal of the nonlinear distortion using a companion EML inside an optoelectronic interferometer. Suppression of composite second-order and triple-beat signals to

In conclusion, we have demonstrated a simple means of suppressing SBS and multipath interference (MPI) when an electroabsorption modulated lasers (EML) is used as an optical transmitter for analog transmission at 1.55 /spl mu/m. This technique is essential to allow the high powers obtained with EDFAs to propagate with high CNR and low distortion.

We describe the important characteristics of high-speed p-doped compressively strained MQW lasers obtained from comprehensive below-threshold DC measurements. Results of gain and differential gain versus wavelength and carrier density are verified by above-threshold resonance measurements. Measurement-derived design curves of gain, differential gain, and linewidth enhancement factor allow device optimization for high speed and low chirp. >

A packaged hybrid soliton pulse source is used in a soliton transmission experiment employing sliding-frequency guiding filters. The source shows excellent stability and very clean tuning characteristics. Control of the operating frequency and wavelength are described. Error free transmission at 10 GBit/s is achieved over a distance of 27000 km. >

The authors compare the dynamic properties of bulk, lattice-matched, and strained multiple-quantum-well (MQW) 1.3- mu m Fabry-Perot lasers up to high bias levels. They show that long-wavelength strained MQW lasers can have a higher intrinsic bandwidth than bulk active and lattice matched MQW lasers, and that a -3-dB bandwidth of over 30 GHz can be expected from devices with a thin separate confinement heterostructure if a low parasitic device structure is used. It is found that the K factor used to determine maximum bandwidth in bulk active laser diodes is unsuitable for strained MQW devices, where a linear relationship of damping/(resonance frequency) is not observed at high power levels. >

25 GHz modulation bandwidth is achieved from a fully packaged 1.55 mu m DFB laser, using devices with p-doped compressively strained MQW active regions and large negative wavelength detuning. Devices on submounts show a record bandwidth of 26 GHz, limited by device and bonding parasitics. Resonance frequencies of over 26 GHz are measured. >

We describe hybrid lasers combining a semiconductor gain section and fiber cavity with integrated chirped Bragg reflector. These devices have produced output powers of 27.5 mW in a narrow linewidth (400 KHz) stable single longitudinal mode. The use of a chirped reflector to stabilize the single mode output, and correct grating orientation are described. The laser output has a side‐mode suppression ratio of over 55 dB at 27.5 mW output, and relative intensity noise (RIN) below 160 dB/Hz.