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Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics
Published on: April 24, 2014
Compact MEMS external cavity tunable laser with ultra-narrow linewidth for coherent detection
Di Zhang1, Jianyi Zhao, Qi Yang
1Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology, College of Optoelectronics Science and Engineering, Wuhan, 430074, China.
Optics Express
|October 6, 2012
Summary
This study presents a compact, tunable laser with an ultra-narrow linewidth, achieving a 40 nm tuning range and high accuracy. The laser demonstrates excellent performance in advanced optical communication systems.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Optical Engineering
- MEMS Technology
- Laser Physics
Background:
- Development of tunable lasers is crucial for advanced optical communication systems.
- Miniaturization and improved performance of tunable lasers are ongoing research areas.
- Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) offer potential for compact laser designs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a compact, ultra-narrow linewidth tunable laser utilizing a MEMS mirror.
- To optimize the laser design through simulation using a two-step hybrid analysis.
- To experimentally validate the performance of the tunable laser.
Main Methods:
- Design and simulation of a tunable laser with an external cavity and a single-axis-MEMS mirror.
- Utilizing a two-step hybrid analysis method for device optimization.
- Experimental characterization of wavelength tuning range, linewidth, and accuracy.
Main Results:
- Achieved a wide wavelength tuning range of approximately 40 nm in the C-band.
- Demonstrated an ultra-narrow linewidth of less than 50 kHz.
- Obtained wavelength accuracy of ± 1 GHz over the entire tuning range.
- Verified excellent performance in single-carrier polarization-multiplexed quadrature phase-shift keying (PM-QPSK) and multi-carrier orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems.
Conclusions:
- The developed MEMS-based tunable laser offers a compact solution with superior performance.
- The simulation method effectively guided the optimal design of the tunable laser.
- The laser is suitable for high-capacity optical communication applications, including PM-QPSK and OFDM.
