Abstract
We report simple and compact V-cavity semiconductor laser capable of full-band wavelength tuning. A half-wave coupler is used to obtain high side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) without any grating or epitaxial regrowth. Temperature induced gain spectrum shift is employed in combination with the Vernier tuning mechanism to extend the wavelength tuning range beyond the free spectral range limit. Wavelength tuning of 50 channels at 100GHz spacing with SMSR up to 38 dB has been demonstrated. We show that with a temperature variation of 35°C, the tuning range can be extended by about 15 nm, in contrast to 0.1 nm/°C for thermo-optic tuning range in grating based lasers. At a fixed temperature, consecutive wavelength tuning of 31 channels was achieved. The response time of the channel switching under the current-tuning regime is measured to be about 20μs. The large tuning range that can cover the full C-band will enable such a simple, compact and potentially low-cost tunable laser to be used in wavelength-agile access and data center networks.
Highlights
Wavelength tunable semiconductor lasers are indispensable in next-generation optical networks
A variety of tunable lasers have been developed such as sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector (SGDBR) lasers [1,2,3,4], superstructure grating (SSG) DBR laser [5,6,7], digital supermode (DS) DBR laser [8], modulated grating Y-branch laser [9], thermally tunable distributed feedback (DFB) laser arrays [10], and MEMS based external cavity lasers [11]
The laser is mounted on an aluminum nitride (AlN) carrier with a thermal-electric cooler (TEC) for temperature control
Summary
Wavelength tunable semiconductor lasers are indispensable in next-generation optical networks. A more compact gratingless V-coupled-cavity tunable laser was proposed [21] and single-electrode controlled wavelength tuning of 16 and 26 consecutive channels with 100 GHz spacing was demonstrated experimentally with an excellent SMSR of about 40 dB and 37 dB, respectively [22]. It is an all-active device with no grating or ring resonators, and it does not require any epitaxial regrowth. The wavelength switching speed under the current-tuning regime is measured
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