Laser Chip Research Articles

Development and Validation of a New Type of Displacement-Based Miniatured Laser Vibrometers.

Developing a miniatured laser vibrometer becomes important for many engineering areas, such as experimental and operational modal analyses, model validation, and structural health monitoring. Due to its compact size and light weight, a miniatured laser vibrometer can be attached to various mobilized platforms, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle and a robotic arm whose payloads can usually not be large, to achieve a flexible vibration measurement capability. However, integrating optics into a miniaturized laser vibrometer presents several challenges. These include signal interference from ghost reflectance signals generated by the sub-components of integrated photonics, polarization effects caused by waveguide structures, wavelength drifting due to the semiconductor laser, and the poorer noise characteristics of an integrated laser chip compared to a non-integrated circuit. This work proposes a novel chip-based high-precision laser vibrometer by incorporating two or more sets of quadrature demodulation networks into its design. An additional set of quadrature demodulation networks with a distinct reference arm delay line length can be used to conduct real-time compensation to mitigate linear interference caused by temperature and environmental variations. A series of vibration measurements with frequencies ranging from 0.1 Hz to 1 MHz were conducted using the proposed laser vibrometer to show its repeatability and accuracy in vibration and ultrasonic vibration measurements, and its robustness to test surface conditions. The proposed laser vibrometer has the advantage of directly measuring the displacement response of a vibrating structure rather than integrating its velocity response to yield the measured displacement with a conventional laser Doppler vibrometer.

Development of S-domain experimental correlation thermal control model and rapid enumeration PID tuning method for uncooled Laser chip module

Uncooled semiconductor lasers are sensitive to ambient temperature variation which makes the PID thermal control for the uncooled semiconductor is complicated. In this work, a kind of enumeration PID tuning method based on S-domain experimental correlation thermal control model for the uncooled semiconductor lasers is introduced. Numeric validation and enumeration PID tuning of S-domain experimental correlation model for uncooled semiconductor are conducted. Results shows that the control accuracy prediction result of the S-domain experimental correlation model has a deviation of 3.6% in contrast with CAE simulation result. The PID tunning speed of rapid enumeration S-domain experimental correlation method is 17,000 times that of CAE method.

Study of equivalent circuit of GaN based laser chip and packaged laser.

High-speed GaN-based lasers play a pivotal role in visible light communication (VLC) systems; however, the causes of the limited modulation response of our fabricated laser diode (LD) are not fully understood. Accordingly, we constructed an equivalent circuit model for both the LD and its packaging. This model enabled us to analyze the series resistance and parallel capacitance of the LD at different injection currents. Experiments and simulations were performed to investigate the intrinsic responses of the LD. The series resistance and parallel capacitance are responsible for S21 roll-off at low frequencies. Determination of the packaging design parameters on the modulation response of a transistor outline (TO)-can packaged LD was investigated which is important to achieve the impedance match in the future. The value of each discrete component was determined by fitting the scattering parameters of the equivalent circuit model to the packaged LD. Reducing the series resistance and parallel capacitance improved the modulation response. Our study firstly illustrates the design and manufacture of violet-blue-green laser transmitters with a large modulation bandwidth for ultra-high-speed VLC from the point of the impedance influence.

Double Perovskite Single Crystals with High Laser Irradiation Stability for Solid-State Laser Lighting and Anti-counterfeiting.

Laser lighting devices, comprising an ultraviolet (UV) laser chip and a phosphor material, have emerged as a highly efficient approach for generating high-brightness light sources. However, the high power density of laser excitation may exacerbate thermal quenching in conventional polycrystalline or amorphous phosphors, leading to luminous saturation and the eventual failure of the device. Here, for the first time, we raise a single-crystal (SCs) material for laser lighting considering the absence of grain boundaries that scatter electrons and phonons, achieving high thermal conductivity (0.81 W m-1 K-1) and heat-resistance (575 °C). The SCs products exhibit a high photoluminescence quantum yield (89%) as well as excellent stability toward high-power lasers (>12.41 kW/cm2), superior to all previously reported amorphous or polycrystalline matrices. Finally, the laser lighting device was fabricated by assembling the SC with a UV laser chip (50 mW), and the device can maintain its performance even after continuous operation for 4 h. Double perovskite single crystals doped with Yb3+/Er3+ demonstrated multimodal luminescence with the irradiation of 355 and 980 nm lasers, respectively. This characteristic holds significant promise for applications in spectrally tunable laser lighting and multimodal anticounterfeiting.

A high-power narrow-linewidth microlaser based on active-passive lithium niobate photonic integration

We demonstrate an on-chip integrated Fabry-Perot (FP) resonator laser with high output power and narrow linewidth. The laser chip is fabricated on monolithically integrated active (i.e., Er3+-doped) and passive (i.e., non-doped) thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) substrate in which the laser cavity is constructed with two Sagnac loop reflectors fabricated on the passive TFLN. The monolithically integrated FP resonator laser achieves an output power of 126.35 μW and a linewidth of 47.5 kHz.

1.3 μm InAs/GaAs quantum-dot lasers grown on planar on-axis Si (001) substrates with high slope-efficiency and low differential resistance

We report electrically pumped continuous-wave (CW) InAs/GaAs quantum dot lasers monolithically grown on planar on-axis Si (001) substrates. Combining an asymmetric waveguide epitaxy structure with aluminium-free upper cladding layers and a symmetrical cathode chip structure, 1.3 μm band lasers with low differential resistance and high slope-efficiency have been achieved. Moreover, the optimized symmetrical cathode structure of the laser chips is used to improve the slope-efficiency by reducing the differential resistance and waste heat. The Fabry–Perot broad-stripe edge-emitting lasers with 2000 μm cavity length and 15 μm stripe width achieve a single-facet output power of 73 mW, a single-facet slope efficiency of 0.165 W A−1, and a differential resistance of 1.31 Ω at ∼1.31 μm wavelength under CW conditions at room temperature (25 °C). Importantly, these results provide an effective strategy to achieve 1.3 μm wavelength band single-mode distributed feedback lasers directly on planar on-axis Si (001) substrates with high efficiency.

Ultrabroadband vernier cascaded microring filters based on dispersive Si3N4 waveguides

A viable candidate for use in silicon photonics and microwave photonics is the hybrid external cavity laser (ECL) chip, which offers a high extinction ratio, ultrabroadband mode-hopping-free tuning range, and small linewidth. It requires a photonic filter device with an ultrabroadband operating bandwidth and adjustable frequency selection capability. The Vernier cascaded microring filter is a prevailing filter technique that usually ignores chromatic dispersion and will result in noticeable frequency variations, particularly over a large frequency range. Based on dispersive Si3N4 waveguides, we develop ultrabroadband Vernier cascaded microring filters and examine the impact of chromatic dispersion. For the same waveguide geometry, the filter’s effective free spectral range (FSR) varies by more than 400 GHz with and without the dispersion. Furthermore, these Vernier filters, which are made of anomalous and normal dispersive waveguides respectively, exhibit mode hopping at the opposite frequency side. It leads to a sudden mode number leap and, consequently, a diversified dispersion condition for the convoluted filtering frequency. We show that this phenomenon is caused by the interplay between half of the FSR difference, and the accumulated frequency difference caused by the chromatic dispersion. Finally, the use of thermal-optical tuning enables accurate frequency tuning. Our findings offer a valuable resource for the engineering of hybrid ECLs at the chip scale.

Automated catastrophic optical damage inspection of semiconductor laser chip based on multi-scale strip convolution aggregation

Automated catastrophic optical damage inspection of semiconductor laser chip based on multi-scale strip convolution aggregation

Design and Fabrication of High‑Efficiency and High‑Power 976 nm Semiconductor Laser Chips

Design and Fabrication of High‑Efficiency and High‑Power 976 nm Semiconductor Laser Chips

Full-integrated photonic pre-synaptic spiking neuron based on DML-DFB laser chip

Full-integrated photonic pre-synaptic spiking neuron based on DML-DFB laser chip

NGHIÊN CỨU CHẾ TẠO MÔ ĐUN CHUYỂN HƯỚNG BỨC XẠ LASER BÁN DẪN GHÉP SỢI QUANG 650 NM ỨNG DỤNG TRONG QUANG TRỊ LIỆU VÀ QUANG SINH DIỆT KHUẨN

Currently, diode lasers in the red wavelength region, especially at 650 nm, are extensively utilized in phototherapy and photodynamic inactivation of bacterials by numerous research groups in the field of lasers for biomedical application. These devices offer exceptional advantages, such as their compact size, ease of design and integration, user-friendliness, and high safety for both operators and patients. Among these, fiber-coupled diode lasers provide an efficient solution for delivering radiation from the laser chip to the desired location. However, further optimization is still required for the fabrication technological development of these devices to meet specific application needs. This includes aspects like reducing manufacturing costs, improving component usability during operation, and meeting specialized usage requirements. To develop the technology for device fabrication, addressing the aforementioned demands, we conducted research on the design, fabrication, and characterization of fiber-coupled semiconductor lasers operating at a wavelength of 650 nm. The characterization results demonstrate that the manufactured devices can operate at maximal pumping current of 100 mA and under varying temperatures from 25oC to 40oC. Additionally, a radiation output orientation module has been designed and integrated at the end of the optical fiber to meet various demands in phototherapy and photodynamic inactivation of bacterials.

Photorefraction‐Assisted Self‐Emergence of Dissipative Kerr Solitons

AbstractGenerated in high‐Q optical microresonators, dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs constitute broadband optical frequency combs with chip sizes and repetition rates in the microwave to millimeter‐wave range. For frequency metrology applications such as spectroscopy, optical atomic clocks, and frequency synthesizers, octave‐spanning soliton microcombs generated in dispersion‐optimized microresonators are required, which allow self‐referencing for full frequency stabilization. In addition, field‐deployable applications require the generation of such soliton microcombs to be simple, deterministic, and reproducible. Here, a novel scheme to generate self‐emerging solitons in integrated lithium‐niobate microresonators is demonstrated. The single soliton features a broadband spectral bandwidth with dual dispersive waves, allowing 2f–3f self‐referencing. Via harnessing the photorefractive effect of lithium niobate to significantly extend the soliton existence range, a spontaneous yet deterministic single‐soliton formation is observed. The soliton is immune to external perturbation and can operate continuously for over 13 h without active feedback control. Finally, via integration with a pre‐programmed distributed feedback (DFB) laser, turnkey soliton generation is demonstrated. With further improvement of microresonator Q and hybrid integration with chip‐scale laser chips, compact soliton microcomb devices with electronic actuation can be created, which can become central elements for future LiDAR, microwave photonics, and optical telecommunications.

Efficient and systematic parameter extraction based on rate equations by DFB equivalent circuit model.

The conventional direct parameter extraction method generally suffers from cumbersome due to redundant experiments. An efficient and systematical parameter extracting solution is proposed based on an equivalent circuit model of distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. The successfully built circuit model includes the necessary intrinsic parameters in the rate equations and the extrinsic parameters to provide a better approximation of the actual laser. This method is experimentally verified through a DFB laser chip measurement of electronic and optical performance under the same conditions. Finally, the nine intrinsic parameters in the rate equations and five extrinsic parameters in the model are efficiently extracted using this technique from a set of experimental characteristics of a DFB laser chip. Modeled and measured results for the laser output characteristics exhibit good agreement when the extracted parameters are used. The method is versatile for other semiconductor lasers that can be modeled using rate equations. Comparison with simulation results of published laser models further validates the reliability of the presented model and extraction method.

Room temperature operation of single mode GaSb‐based DFB interband cascade lasers beyond 6.1 µm

AbstractSingle‐mode distributed feedback GaSb‐based interband cascade lasers with record emission beyond 6.1 µm are presented. The results are based on an epitaxial design with reduced resonant intersubband absorption in the valence band and rebalanced internally generated carriers. The epi‐down mounted 8 µm wide and 1 mm long laser chip is operated in continuous wave mode at room temperature and covers a bandwidth of over 20 nm with temperature and current tuning. At 25°C more than 4 mW of optical output power was measured.

200-W short-pulse operation of photonic-crystal lasers based on simultaneous absorptive and radiative Q-switching.

Short-pulse high-peak-power lasers are crucial laser sources for various applications such as non-thermal ultrafine material processing and eye-safe high-resolution remote sensing. Realizing such operation in a single semiconductor laser chip without amplifiers or external resonators is expected to contribute to the development of compact, affordable laser sources for such applications. In this paper, we demonstrate short-pulse high-peak-power photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers based on simultaneous absorptive and radiative Q-switching. The proposed device induces an instantaneous and simultaneous decrease in both absorptive and out-of-plane radiation losses due to saturable absorption and self-evolution of the photonic band, respectively, which results in drastic Q-switching operation of the device. Based on this concept, we experimentally demonstrate short-pulse generation with 200-W-class peak power and a pulse width of < 30 ps. In addition, via pulse compression with dispersion compensation, we achieve an even higher peak power of ∼300 W with a shorter pulse width of ∼10 ps.

Nano-ITLA Based on Thermo-Optically Tuned Multi-Channel Interference Widely Tunable Laser

A tunable light source with narrow linewidth, small size and low power consumption is necessary for high-speed digital coherent communication system. We have developed a monolithically integrated narrow linewidth widely tunable laser—multi-channel interference (MCI) laser, which realizes a quasi-continuous tuning range covering the C++ band. By packaging the laser chip, wavelength locker and thermoelectric cooler (TEC) into a transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA) box and designing a compact print circuit board (PCB), a nano-integrable tunable laser assembly (Nano-ITLA) based on the thermo-optically tuned MCI laser is demonstrated for the first time. The Nano-ITLA is 25.0 mm (L) × 15.6 mm (W) × 6.5 mm (H), and realizes 120 International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-grid switching over 48 nm and less than 3 W total power consumption. The side-mode suppression ratios (SMSRs) are higher than 46 dB, the fiber coupled output powers are greater than 16 dBm, and the Lorentzian linewidths are less than 150 kHz. High precision wavelength locking and temperature control system make the output frequency deviation of all channels from the ITU-grid less than ± 0.5 GHz and the wavelength drift less than ± 1 pm. The output power can be accurately controlled and stabilized at ± 0.1 dB through a closed-loop feedback. The no-light shutdown function realizes an extinction ratio higher than 40 dB during wavelength switching. The Nano-ITLA demonstrates excellent application potential in the coherent optical communications.

Uncooled Tunable Laser Based on High-Density Integration of Distributed Feedback Semiconductor Lasers

Most types of tunable lasers are sensitive to the ambient temperature and require thermoelectric coolers (TECs) for temperature control. For conventional tunable laser modules, high power consumption of cooling is required for stabilizing the laser temperature and complex hermetic packages are normally used to avoid moisture condensation problems, which are expensive and difficult to manufacture. To overcome these drawbacks, we demonstrated an uncooled tunable laser via the monolithically integrated multi-wavelength distributed feedback (DFB) laser array based on the reconstruction-equivalent-chirp technique. Totally sixteen DFB semiconductor lasers are densely integrated with a 4-by-4 matrix laser array. To ensure the uncooled laser operates properly, the active material of the laser chip is designed to work at high temperatures without TEC cooling. Therefore, an uncooled wavelength-tuning range of 33.8 nm is achieved during the whole commercial operating temperature range from 0 °C to 70 °C.

Photonic integrated spiking neuron chip based on a self-pulsating DFB laser with a saturable absorber

We proposed and experimentally demonstrated a simple and novel photonic spiking neuron based on a distributed feedback (DFB) laser chip with an intracavity saturable absorber (SA). The DFB laser with an intracavity SA (DFB-SA) contains a gain region and an SA region. The gain region is designed and fabricated by the asymmetric equivalent π-phase shift based on the reconstruction-equivalent-chirp technique. Under properly injected current in the gain region and reversely biased voltage in the SA region, periodic self-pulsation was experimentally observed due to the Q-switching effect. The self-pulsation frequency increases with the increase of the bias current and is within the range of several gigahertz. When the bias current is below the self-pulsation threshold, neuronlike spiking responses appear when external optical stimulus pulses are injected. Experimental results show that the spike threshold, temporal integration, and refractory period can all be observed in the fabricated DFB-SA chip. To numerically verify the experimental findings, a time-dependent coupled-wave equation model was developed, which described the physics processes inside the gain and SA regions. The numerical results agree well with the experimental measurements. We further experimentally demonstrated that the weighted sum output can readily be encoded into the self-pulsation frequency of the DFB-SA neuron. We also benchmarked the handwritten digit classification task with a simple single-layer fully connected neural network. By using the experimentally measured dependence of the self-pulsation frequency on the bias current in the gain region as an activation function, we can achieve a recognition accuracy of 92.2%, which bridges the gap between the continuous valued artificial neural networks and spike-based neuromorphic networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first experimental demonstration of a photonic integrated spiking neuron based on a DFB-SA, which shows great potential to realizing large-scale multiwavelength photonic spiking neural network chips.

High–Power 792 nm Fiber–Coupled Semiconductor Laser

The pumping of Tm-doped crystal or fiber by a 792 nm semiconductor laser is an important way to generate a mid-infrared laser, which is widely used in various fields. In this paper, a high–power 792 nm fiber–coupled semiconductor laser module was successfully fabricated with the output power of 232 W at a 10 A continuous current and the electro-optic conversion efficiency of 48.6%. The laser module is coupled with 24 chips into a fiber by spatial multiplexing and polarization combination technology. For a single emitting laser chip, the continuous wave (CW) output power and threshold current are 10.45 W at 10 A and 1.55 A, respectively. A polarization as high as 94% can also be realized, which is more suitable for laser spatial beam combining. The laser module was aged for more than 4000 h at 12 A and 25 °C without obvious power degradation.

Ultrashort cavity length effects on the performance of GaInP multiple-quantum-well laser diode

The cavity length of a semiconductor laser plays a key role in its operation and dynamic behaviour. Moreover, downsizing the quantum well (QW) laser chip is required for specific applications, such as hard disk drives (HDDs). Therefore, it is vital to study laser operation at various cavity lengths in micro-scale dimensions. Here, the operation of a GaInP/GaAs multiple-quantum-well laser with different short cavity lengths (i.e., 200, 300, 400, and 500 µm) at room temperature is demonstrated. The threshold current (Ith), differential efficiency, emission spectra, and near-field profile images are all experimentally reported in this study. Likewise, the modal gain threshold and mirror facet coating effects on the operation of the samples are also discussed. The Ith decreases with the increase of cavity length, whereas emission spectra exhibited a redshift by about 3 nm when the laser length rises from 200 to 500 µm. The near-field images showed a reduction in profile width when the laser length is shorter, which is attributed to a reduction of the spreading current along the laser stripe. The short cavity of the 200 µm sample showed high efficiency, low spreading current, and fast carrier dynamic but a slightly high Ith which can be reduced by coating its facets. This could be a promising small-footprint candidate laser chip for next-generation HDDs and for downsizing photonic applications.