High-quality extended cavity ridge lasers fabricated by impurity-free vacancy diffusion with a novel masking technique

By using phosphorous doped (5% wt P) silica as masking material and standard silica capping to promote quantum well interdiffusion, GaAs-AlGaAs ridge waveguide QW lasers with integrated transparent waveguides were fabricated. With a selective differential blue-shift of 30 nm in the absorption edge, devices with 400-/spl mu/m/2.73-mm-long active/passive sections exhibited threshold currents of 8 mA in CW operation, only 1 mA higher than that for normal lasers of the same active length and from the same chip. This 14% increase in threshold current was accompanied by a slope efficiency decrease of 40%. Losses of 3.2 cm/sup -1/ were measured in the passive waveguides at the lasing wavelength using the Fabry-Perot resonance method. This value is among the lowest reported so far using an impurity-free disordering technique.     

Improvements in mode-locked semiconductor diode lasers using monolithically integrated passive waveguides made by quantum-well intermixing

By using the technique of quantum-well intermixing (QWI), monolithically integrated passive, and active waveguides can be fabricated. It is shown that mode-locked extended cavity semiconductor lasers with integrated low-loss passive waveguides display superior performance to devices in which the entire waveguide is active: the threshold current is a factor of 3-5 lower, the pulsewidth is reduced from 10.2 ps in the all active laser to 3.5 ps in the extended cavity device and there is a decrease in the free-running jitter level from 15 to 6 ps (10 kHz-10 MHz).     

Tapered polymer single-mode waveguides for mode transformation

This paper presents a tapered polymer waveguide structure for coupling light between optical waveguides with differing geometries. Optical fibers, lasers, and other photonic integrated circuit components can be coupled with tapered waveguides. The polymer waveguide performs a mode transformation between different mode shapes and sizes. For example, the mode transformation can be from an elliptical laser diode mode to that of a circular optical fiber mode. The input and output of a tapered waveguide structure are analyzed, for the case of laser to fiber coupling, in order to determine the effect of misalignments on the coupling efficiency. Adiabaticity in waveguide propagation is discussed. The fabrication of our polymer waveguides is also described     

Characteristics of a hollow-core distributed feedback CO2laser

Using perturbation theory and a plane wave analysis, the scattering amplitudes and coupling coefficients for a planar, hollow-core, double grating distributed feedback (DFB) waveguide laser are derived. Waveguide reflectivity has been compared for a single and double grating waveguide configuration. For a waveguide dimension of 100 μm over a 10 cm length, reflectivity is enhanced from 75 percent for a single grating to 98 percent using a double grating configuration. Included in this analysis is the effect of phase relationship between the two gratings. Using this analysis a means has been devised whereby reflectivity of the DFB waveguide may be optimized during operation of the laser. With the double grating configuration, coupling is enhanced such that a greater plate separation is possible in nearly all cases. Use of a double grating allows the plate separation of the waveguide to be increased from 80 to 100 μm, reducing total waveguide loss from 15.9 to 8.1 dB/m. These results have led to a method of solving heretofore prohibitive characteristics of single grating hollow-core DFB waveguides. Formal relationships for the waveguide parameters where a double grating configuration is used have been presented for designing hollow-core DFB waveguide lasers operating at 10.6 μm.     

GaInAsP/InP integrated laser with butt-jointed built-in distributed-Bragg-reflection waveguide

A novel GaInAsP/InP integrated laser with butt-jointed built-in distributed-Bragg-reflection waveguide (BJB-DBR integrated laser for short) is proposed and demonstrated. In this structure, it is found theoretically that an efficient coupling of 98% between the active and butt-jointed external waveguides is available by matching the propagation constants and the field profiles of both waveguides, which gives relatively larger fabrication tolerance. Prototype BJB-DBR integrated lasers with emitting wavelength of 1.55 ?m were fabricated, and single-longitudinal-mode operation was obtained at room temperature.     

InP-based passive ring-resonator-coupled lasers

The design of passive ring-coupled lasers based on InGaAsP waveguides is investigated using a beam propagation method. Mode coupling, propagation loss due to bending, and scattering loss from waveguide sidewall roughness are taken into account. By compromising threshold gain, linewidth and side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR), suitable waveguide width and coupling strength are determined for different ring sizes. Using a ring with radius ranging from 20 to 200 /spl mu/m, it is possible to design passive ring-coupled lasers with threshold gain less than 60/cm and 80/cm for waveguide sidewall roughness 5 and 10 nm, respectively, SMSR larger than 50 dB, and linewidth in the range of /spl sim/3-500 kHz.     

Integration of an electrooptic polymer in an integrated opticscircuit on silicon

This paper presents the joining of active nonlinear polymer waveguides with passive silicon nitride waveguides (SiO₂-Si ₃N₄-SiO₂) to form an integrated Mach-Zehnder modulator with a lateral electrode configuration on a silicon substrate. Passive and active waveguides are based on a silicon-nitride-strip guiding structure. In the active waveguide a nonlinear polymer layer is used to obtain an index modulation via the electrooptic effect. Despite the silicon nitride strip based guiding structure, 63% of the energy of the fundamental mode is guided in the nonlinear polymer (provided by Flamel Technology, Venissieux, France). Poling with field strengths up to 75 V/μm applied to the lateral electrodes has been employed to orient the chromophores. A half wave voltage of 35 V has been measured for an electrooptic coefficient of 5.8 pm/V at a wavelength of 1.3 μm. Optical loss measurements have been done on polymer and passive waveguides. The best results have been 1.8 dB/cm for the active and 0.78 dB/cm for the passive waveguides leading to a total loss of 6 dB for a modulator with an interaction length of 2.5 cm. The coupling loss between a laser diode and the passive waveguide structure was measured to be at least 4.6 dB using a microscope objective and piezo-electric displacement elements. Stability tests under atmospheric conditions have shown a decrease of the electrooptic coefficient which might be due to the hygroscopic behavior of the active polymer. The bandwidth of the modulator has been determined to be 4 MHz     

Integrated external-cavity InGaAs/InP lasers using cap-annealing disordering

InGaAs/InP multiple-quantum-well lasers were integrated with low-loss waveguides in the long-wavelength region using a cap-annealing disordering technique which does not require a regrowth process. The coupling efficiency between them does not increase the threshold current of the lasers. The optical loss in the waveguide was 7.8 cm/sup -1/ and was due to free-carrier absorption in the cladding layers.<>     

Monolithic integration of curved waveguides and channeled-substrate DH lasers by wet chemical etching

Integration of AlGaAs/GaAs curved waveguides and other two-dimensional waveguides with DH lasers and detectors is demonstrated. Devices are fabricated from LPE AlGaAs/GaAs layers by wet chemical etching processes. Differential transfer efficiencies ofeta_{t}= 5percent are routinely achieved in a structure consisting of an integrated laser, a 90° curved waveguide with 150μm radius, and a detector, for the case where one laser mirror is etched and one cleaved. This value iseta_{t}= 4percent if both mirrors are etched. A comparison of waveguide attenuation between straight and curved rib waveguides is given, along with the transfer characteristics of curved waveguides. The loss coefficient of curved rib waveguides with 150-μm radius is about two times that of a straight waveguide of the same length. The fabrication and properties of channeled-substrate crescent (CSC) lasers and detectors with transverse single-mode confinement, monolithically integrated by means of passive CSC interconnecting waveguides, is also described.     

Quantum-well laser with integrated passive waveguide fabricated byneutral impurity disordering

Double quantum-well lasers have been fabricated with an integrated low-loss waveguide in which the quantum wells have been intermixed by neutral impurity disordering. Threshold currents of devices with integrated 600-μm passive guides show an increase of less than 10% over normal Fabry-Perot lasers of the same active length, confirming that the propagation loss in the passive wavelength is significantly reduced by disordering to 4.5±2 cm^-1. Comparison with unimplanted devices suggests that the implanted dopant also passivates the waveguide electrically     

A 2×2 crosspoint switch fabricated on the passive activeresonant coupler (PARC) platform

We demonstrate the fabrication of a 2×2 crosspoint switch monolithically fabricated on the passive active resonant coupler (PARC) platform by utilizing vertical resonant coupling over a taper between an active and a passive waveguide. The coupling taper was 100 μm long with less than 0.15 dB coupling loss. By pushing the mode up and down as and when required, we are able to integrate passive waveguides and electroabsorption modulators on one chip. The static performance of the switch has been tested, and a modulation depth of 30 dB has been achieved at the wavelength of 1.57 μm for an applied bias of 2.5 V     

Integration of a laser diode with a polymer-based waveguide forphotonic integrated circuits

The fabrication and characterization of BRS lasers monolithically integrated with butt-coupled polymer-based buried strip waveguides is presented. Threshold currents of lasers with one cleaved and one etched mirror facets are 15-18 mA and waveguide output powers are in excess of 5 mW at 100 mA laser driving currents and for 600 μm long waveguides. The device exhibits a total waveguide insertion loss less than 5 dB. The integrated device is potentially suitable as a building-block for photonic integrated circuits     

A theoretical study of semiconductor integrated etalon interference lasers--Part I: Waveguiding properties and intermodal coupling analysis

We present a theoretical study of semiconductor interferometric lasers, having a resonator with curved and straight segments, in two parts. In this first part, the wave equation in a curved dielectric waveguide is solved by applying the conformal transformation method to develop design criteria for curved optical waveguides in integrated optics. An intermodal coupling analysis at the junction discontinuity between a curved and straight waveguide is carried out to define a scattering matrix representing lateral mode conversion and internal reflection at the junction. The results of the theoretical analysis reveal two important consequences: 1) an extremely low internal reflection coefficient for the fundamental lateral mode, and 2) an increased internal reflection into higher order lateral modes. This phenomenon leads us to the conclusion that the interferometric effect in integrated etalon interference lasers is caused by the participation of higher order lateral modes into the resonance process.     

Vertically tapered epilayers for low-loss waveguide-fiber coupling achieved in a single epitaxial growth run

Next-generation optical-communications systems require on-wafer integration of active and passive opto-electronic components to increase operating speed and reduce packaging costs. Increased coupling efficiencies between semiconductor waveguides and optical fibers are of particular interest. A simple and cost-effective method of fabricating a mode-size converter monolithically integrated with a semiconductor waveguide is presented. An on-wafer mode-size converter reduces the number of interfaces in an opto-electronic circuit and improves the coupling efficiency between semiconductor waveguide and optical fiber. Vertically tapered epilayers are deposited in a single epitaxial growth run using shadow-masked growth by chemical-beam epitaxy, avoiding complex and expensive processing and regrowth stages. Waveguides that taper vertically and horizontally over /spl sim/1 mm for gradual expansion of the mode size are demonstrated. Waveguide loss measurements showed that there was negligible loss across the tapered regions. A loss of <2 dB/interface was achieved compared with /spl sim/8 dB/interface for a butt-coupled discrete device.     

Monolithic integration in InGaAs-InGaAsP multiple-quantum-wellstructures using laser intermixing

The bandgap of InGaAs-InGaAsP multiple-quantum-well (MQW) material can be accurately tuned by photoabsorption-induced disordering (PAID), using a Nd:YAG laser, to allow lasers, modulators, and passive waveguides to be fabricated from a standard MQW structure. The process relies on optical absorption in the active region of the MQW to produce sufficient heat to cause interdiffusion between the wells and barriers. Bandgap shifts larger than 100 meV are obtainable using laser power densities of around 5 W·mm^-2 and periods of illumination of a few minutes to tens of minutes. This process provides an effective way of altering the emission wavelengths of lasers fabricated from a single epitaxial wafer. Blue shifts of up to 160 nm in the lasing spectra of both broad-area and ridge waveguide lasers are reported. The bandgap-tuned lasers are assessed in terms of threshold current density, internal quantum efficiency, and internal losses. The ON/OFF ratios of bandgap-tuned electroabsorption modulators were tested over a range of wavelengths, with modulation depths of 20 dB obtained from material which has been bandgap-shifted by 120 nm, while samples shifted by 80 nm gave modulation depths as high as 27 dB. Single-mode waveguide losses are as low as 5 dB·cm^-1 at 1550 mm. Selective-area disordering has been used in the fabrication of extended cavity lasers. The retention of good electrical and optical properties in intermixed material demonstrates that PAID is a promising technique for the integration of devices to produce photonic integrated circuits. A quantum-well intermixing technique using a pulsed laser is also demonstrated     

太赫兹波导发展现状与展望

太赫兹波具有良好的穿透性、低能性和宽带性,在高速空间通信、环境监测、外差探测、医学探测、无损检测和国防安全等领域具有重要的应用前景。波导传输技术和功能器件是太赫兹系统不可或缺的重要组成部分,太赫兹波导的性能决定了太赫兹系统的信号传输效率和集成度,引起人们的研究兴趣。近年来,太赫兹波导的发展取得了长足的进步,从普通的金属空心波导到金属线波导、介质光纤,再到最近的人工表面等离激元波导、石墨烯、铌酸锂等新型波导,它们展现出了各自的优势,令人振奋。该综述全面介绍了太赫兹波导领域的发展及研究近况,并对其未来应用进行了展望。     

Efficient coupling in integrated twin-waveguide lasers usingwaveguide tapers

We demonstrate a 1.55-μm wavelength, InGaAsP-InP, twin-waveguide (TG) laser integrated with passive ridge waveguides using low-loss taper couplers. The lateral taper on the laser waveguide induces efficient resonant coupling of light between the active and passive layers. The device is fabricated using low-cost conventional photolithography and reactive ion etching of a TG structure grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. This structure is suitable for integrating a variety of photonic devices without requiring epitaxial regrowth     

In-Plane Coupling of Light From InP-Based Photonic Crystal Band-Edge Lasers Into Single-Mode Waveguides

In this paper, we analyze the coupling of light from photonic-crystal band-edge lasers into single-mode waveguides. Both active and passive devices lie in the same plane and coupling of light is achieved by using parabolic and nanotapers in InP based epitaxial structures. Two- and three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain methods are employed to analyze these devices. Coupling efficiencies higher than 80% can be obtained with parabolic couplers. We also present laser configurations that can reduce multiwavelength coupling of light into single-mode waveguides, using structures that are similar to coupled cavity Fabry-Peacuterot lasers     

GaAs integrated optical circuits by wet chemical etching

An integrated optical circuit containing a laser, passive waveguide, and extra-cavity detector is described. These devices are fabricated from AlxGa1-xAs layers grown by liquid-phase epitaxy. Reflectors are formed by a two-step preferential etch procedure. For proper laser orientation on {100} wafers, the mirrors are found to be oblique, tapered so as to enhance coupling into the underlying passive waveguide; this increases the efficiency of radiation transfer to the detector. Device operation with high differential transfer efficiency and low threshold has been achieved; e.g., for devices with one etched mirror and one cleaved mirror, ηt= 16 percent andJ_{t} = 2.4kA/cm², whereas these values areeta_{t} = 6.5percent and Jt= 3.0 kA/cm²for devices with two etched mirrors. Other orientations on {100} and {110} wafers have also been investigated. The reflectivity of the etched mirrors is small,R_{e} simeq 1-2percent, but transfer efficiencies into the external passive waveguide as large asT = 50percent have been observed. The effect of small Reon device performance is examined both experimentally and theoretically. The fabrication of ribbed interconnections between active circuit components is also described.     

A proposal on coupled waveguide lasers

a new type of optical oscillator, involving coupled waveguide lasers (CWL's) consisting ofNidentical single-mode active waveguides (N = 3,5) coupled with each other is proposed. Oscillation conditions of coupled waveguide lasers, such as threshold and effective length of waveguides, and output powers are examined theoretically, as compared with the conventional single-mode waveguide lasers.