Abstract
We report a precision and fast wavelength tuning technique demonstrated for a digital-supermode distributed Bragg reflector laser. The laser was dynamically offset-locked to a frequency-stabilized master laser using an optical phase-locked loop, enabling precision fast tuning to and from any frequencies within a ~40-GHz tuning range. The offset frequency noise was suppressed to the statically offset-locked level in less than ~40 μs upon each frequency switch, allowing the laser to retain the absolute frequency stability of the master laser. This technique satisfies stringent requirements for gas sensing lidars and enables other applications that require such well-controlled precision fast tuning.
Highlights
Various widely-tunable monolithic semiconductor diode lasers have been developed for telecom applications
The present precision and fast tuning technique is enabled by the fast tuning response of the DS-DBR laser through its phase section and the fast tunable optical phase-locked loop (OPLL), as detailed below in Sections 2.1 and 2.2 respectively
To monitor the polarity of the offset frequency and the absolute frequency noise of the slave DS-DBR laser, we measured the beatnote between this slave laser and another slave distributed-feedback laser diode (DFB-LD) offset locked to the other reference DFB-LD
Summary
Various widely-tunable monolithic semiconductor diode lasers have been developed for telecom applications They include a digital-supermode distributed-Bragg-reflector (DSDBR) laser [1], a sampled-grating DBR (SG-DBR) laser [2], and other types of lasers (see, for example [3, 4]). These single-mode lasers can be tuned over tens of nanometers in wavelength. Fast wavelength switching of such lasers has been sought for dynamic wavelength provisioning in future optical networks [5]. They have found additional spectroscopic applications for multispecies gas sensing [6]. We report a tuning technique to drastically improve the frequency precision while retaining the fast tuning speed of such widely tunable lasers
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