Thermal Wavelength Drift Research Articles

Suppression of thermal wavelength drift in widely tunable DS-DBR laser for fast channel-to-channel switching.

We present a simple and effective method for suppressing thermally induced wavelength drift in a widely tunable digital supermode distributed Bragg reflector (DS-DBR) laser monolithically integrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). For fast thermal compensation, pre-compensatory currents are injected into the gain medium section of the DS-DBR laser and the SOA. This method can be easily applied to existing commercial tunable lasers, since it is implemented without any modification to manufacturing process. Experimental results exhibit that wavelength stability is noticeably improved to ± 0.01 nm. We also experimentally demonstrate a fast channel-to-channel switching in a wavelength-routed optical switching system employing a 90 × 90 arrayed waveguide grating router (AWGR). The measured switching time is less than 0.81 µs.

Athermalization and on-chip multi-wavelength integration of VCSELs employing thermally actuated micromachined mirrors

An athermal multi-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array is demonstrated using a thermally actuated cantilever structure with different cantilever lengths. The cavity length of each VCSEL is precisely controlled via the deflection of the cantilever due to difference in the lattice constant of GaAlAs layers. Also, the thermally induced actuation of the cantilever reduces the cavity length as the ambient temperature increases, which compensates the thermal wavelength drift of the VCSEL. The wavelength drift could be reduced within ±0.017 nm/K, which is 4 times smaller than that of conventional VCSELs. The proposed multi-wavelength VCSEL array enables four wavelength channels with 2.5 nm spacing under uncooled operations.

Athermal and widely tunable VCSEL with bimorph micromachined mirror.

We demonstrate an athermal and electrostatically-tunable 850 nm-band MEMS VCSEL for the first time. The thermal wavelength drift is compensated by the thermal actuation of a cantilever-suspended mirror with a bimorph effect. At the same time, the resonant wavelength can be continuously tuned by electro-static force as a voltage is applied in the cantilever structure. A continuous wavelength tuning of 10 nm is obtained with a low thermal wavelength drift, which is 10 times smaller than that of conventional VCSELs. Our athermal and tunable VCSELs enable us to reduce the channel spacing in course wavelength division multiplexing optical interconnects even under uncooled operations.

Semiconductor Double-Ring-Resonator-Coupled Tunable Laser for Wavelength Routing

A monolithic widely tunable semiconductor laser based on a double-ring resonator is developed for use in a wavelength-routing switch. By using the double-ring resonator as a wavelength-selective filter, operation over a wide wavelength tuning range is achieved with a low tuning current. This low-tuning-current operation makes the laser very promising as a high-speed tunable light source for a wavelength-routing-based switch by effectively suppressing the thermal wavelength drift induced by current injection. In addition, the laser fabrication process is simpler compared to conventional distributed Bragg reflector tunable lasers. A tuning range of 50.0 nm, covering the entire C-band, is successfully demonstrated with an injection current of less than 5.2 mA. The wavelength drift caused by the thermal transients is less than 5 GHz.

Suppression of Thermal Wavelength Drift in Super-Structure Grating Distributed Bragg Reflector (SSG-DBR) Laser with Thermal Drift Compensator

Thermal wavelength drift in a super-structure grating distributed Bragg reflector (SSG-DBR) laser is suppressed by introducing a thermal drift compensation waveguide into a DBR laser. Injecting a compensatory current into the thermal drift compensation waveguide greatly suppresses the drift, and also prevents SSG mode hopping during rapid wavelength switching.

Uncooled DBR laser directly Modulated at 3.125 gb/s as athermal transmitter for low-cost WDM systems

An uncooled three-section tunable distributed Bragg reflector laser is demonstrated as an athermal transmitter for low-cost uncooled wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) systems with tight channel spacing. A /spl plusmn/0.02-nm thermal wavelength drift is achieved under continuous-wave operation up to 70/spl deg/C. Dynamic sidemode suppression ratio of greater than 35 dB is consistently obtained under 3.125-Gb/s direct modulation over a 20/spl deg/C-70/spl deg/C temperature range, with wavelength variation of as low as /spl plusmn/0.2 nm. This indicates that more than an order of magnitude reduction in coarse WDM channel spacing is possible using this source.

Attenuation of ruby laser radiation in the ground layer of the atmosphere during thermal wavelength drift

Attenuation of ruby laser radiation in the ground layer of the atmosphere during thermal wavelength drift