Design, Characterization, and Applications of Index-Patterned Fabry–Pérot Lasers

Abstract

The design and measured performance characteristics of a range of index-patterned diode laser sources are presented. These devices incorporate slotted regions etched into the laser ridge waveguide, which are formed in the same fabrication step as the ridge, thus avoiding the requirement for complex lithography and regrowth steps. We first demonstrate that the index profile of single and multimode devices can be obtained directly from an inverse problem solution based on a perturbative calculation of the threshold gain of the longitudinal modes of the cavity. Measurements of temperature stability, linewidth, and modulation bandwidth of single-mode devices obtained in this way are presented. It is then shown that the design of multimode devices including two-color and pulsed mode-locked devices designed to support a discrete comb of modes is also possible. We finally demonstrate a tunable source based on a multisection design defined using etched features. This device is shown to have wide tunability with narrow linewidth modes and fast wavelength switching speed.