Interferometric method for preventing mode-hopping in tunable external-cavity semiconductor lasers

A problem in frequency-tuning of external-cavity lasers is mode-hopping between neighbouring external-cavity modes. We demonstrate a new interferometric method for monitoring mode-hoping and an automatic control circuit for a 1.3 ?m grating external-cavity laser that maintains single-mode operation when the lasing frequency is tuned.     

Modulation characteristic of waveguide-type optical frequency combgenerator

We report the modulation characteristics of a waveguide-type optical frequency comb generator (WG-OFCG) with the advantages of compactness, high modulation index and low driving power. The characteristics of the optical frequency comb (OFC) generated when the modulation index exceeds 2π are discussed. The power of the modulation sidebands was measured by the optical heterodyne method with an external-cavity laser as a local oscillator. The dependence of the modulation index of the WG-OFCG on the modulation frequency up to 40 GHz was measured. The generation span of the OFC at the modulation frequency detuned from an integer multiple of the free spectral range (FSR) is discussed     

Limit of optical-frequency comb generation due to materialdispersion

The limit of optical frequency comb (OFC) generation (i.e., the limit of frequency difference measurement) due to the material dispersion in the EO crystal is experimentally studied. By using a modified monolithic OFC generator, we observed the OFC spectrum, and confirmed that the envelope of the OFC around 780 nm extended to a span as wide as 16 nm (or 7.6 THz) reaching the limit of the OFC generation. We also proposed a method of stabilizing the Fabry-Perot cavity for the monolithic OFC generator     

Importance of multiple-phonon interactions in molecular dissociation and nanofabrication using optical near fields

A quasi-particle (exciton-phonon polariton) model, as a simple model of an optical near-field probe, is proposed to investigate an unresolved problem in photochemical processes, i.e., why a vapor molecule can be dissociated by an incident photon with less energy than the dissociation energy only if, not a propagating far field, but an optical near field is used, and what is the mechanism leading to the photon flux dependence of the deposition rates. Incident photon energy and intensity dependences of Zn deposition rates are analyzed, and good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results is obtained. It suggests that the probe system plays an important role in vibrational transitions as well as electronic transitions in photodissociation processes, and that the couplings between the optical near field and molecular vibrations are enhanced to permit a nonresonant photodissociation inherent in the optical near field.     

Heterodyne optical phase-locked loop by confocal Fabry-Periotcavity coupled AlGaAs lasers

Two external confocal Fabry-Perot cavity-coupled 0.83-μm AlGaAs lasers phase-locked to one another by a heterodyne optical phase-locked loop are discussed. The phase error under phase-locking conditions was measured using the square root of the Allan variance. The result confirmed that the heterodyne signal was a full replica of the spectrum of the reference RF signal within the loop bandwidth. The estimated phase-error variance was 0.02 rad², i.e. ≃8.1°     

Nanometric patterning of zinc by optical near-field photochemical vapour deposition

A new technique, optical near-field photochemical vapour deposition (NFO-PCVD) enables maskless production of nanometric structures with controllable size, chemical composition and morphology. By placing a near-field optical microscope inside the reaction chamber for photochemical vapour deposition we have deposited nanoscale metal patterns. We demonstrate for the first time, successfully deposited in the near-field region, lines of metallic zinc with the observed stripe width of 20 nm.     

Analyses of mode-hopping phenomena in an AlGaAs laser

Intensity fluctuations of the longitudinal modes of a 0.8 μm AlGaAs laser were precisely measured during the occurrence of hopping between two modes. It was found from this result that mode hopping follows the stochastics of a Poisson process. The frequency of mode hopping was measured asf_{c} = [exp [-95(I/I_{th} - 1)]] times 10^{7}(Hz). whereI/I_{th}is the injection current normalized to its threshold value. Results of analog computer simulations showed that spontaneous emission worked as a triggering force for mode hopping. Results of the analysis based on the Fokker-Planck equation were compared to the experimental results, from which the root-mean-square value of the fluctuating electric field of spontaneous emission was estimated as2.3 times 10^{2)(V/m)leqlanglesim{E}_{N} leq 3.2 times 10^{2}(V/m). It is concluded that an effective reduction of mode hopping is achieved if the laser is operated at a higher bias or if the coupling constant between the two modes is increased.     

A simple interferometric method for monitoring mode hopping intunable external-cavity semiconductor lasers

The mode-hopping events in a 1.3-μm grating-tuned external-cavity laser are analyzed on the basis of interferometric measurements. The average frequency of mode hopping for a 7.5-cm external-cavity laser is estimated and is expressed as f_c =2.7×10⁶×exp [-1.7/(I/I _th-1)] (hertz) for 0.07⩽(I/I_th -1)⩽0.8 (I=injection current and I_th =threshold current). The mode-hopping monitoring signal was negatively fed back to the laser using an automatic control circuit which maintained single-mode operation while the wavelength of the grating external-cavity laser was tuned     

Design and Simulation of a Nanophotonic Traceable Memory Using Localized Energy Dissipation and Hierarchy of Optical Near-Field Interactions

Optical near-field interactions allow energy localization at scales smaller than the diffraction limit of light. They also show intrinsic hierarchical responses, meaning that optical near-fields exhibit different physical behavior at different scales. In this paper, by combining the localized energy dissipation and hierarchy properties, we present an architecture for a novel traceable optical memory that records memory access events to each bit, which is useful in applications such as high-security information transfer. The basic principles are demonstrated by numerical simulations using a metal nanostructure.