Frequency stabilization of C-band semiconductor lasers through a SiN photonic integrated circuit

Abstract

Integrated semiconductor lasers represent essential building blocks for integrated optical components and circuits and their stability in frequency is fundamental for the development of numerous frontier applications and engineering tasks. When dense optical circuits are considered, the stability of integrated laser sources can be impaired by the thermal cross-talk generated by the action of neighboring components, leading to a deterioration of the long-term system performance (on the scale of seconds). In this work we show the design and the experimental characterization of a silicon nitride photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that is able to frequency stabilize 16 semiconductor lasers, simultaneously. A stabilized 50 GHz-spaced two-channel system is demonstrated through the detection of the related beating note and the stability of the resulting waveform is characterized via the use of artificially induced thermal cross-talk stimuli.