III-V-on-silicon anti-colliding pulse-type mode-locked laser

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Semiconductor Lasers
• Integrated Optics

Background:

• III-V-on-silicon technology enables advanced photonic integrated circuits.
• Passively mode-locked lasers are crucial for high-speed optical communications and signal processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel anti-colliding pulse-type III-V-on-silicon passively mode-locked laser.
• To characterize its performance, including repetition rate, pulse width, linewidth, and output power.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a III-V-on-silicon distributed Bragg reflector as an outcoupling mirror.
• Implemented the mirror partially underneath the III-V saturable absorber for anti-colliding pulse operation.
• Characterized the laser output using optical and radio-frequency (RF) spectrum analyzers.

Main Results:

• Achieved passive mode-locking at a 4.83 GHz repetition rate.
• Generated optical pulses with a duration of 3 picoseconds (ps).
• Demonstrated a fundamental RF tone with a 1.7 kHz 3 dB linewidth and over 9 mW of waveguide-coupled output power.

Conclusions:

• The presented III-V-on-silicon laser design is effective for generating short pulses at high repetition rates.
• This technology holds promise for compact and high-performance integrated photonic devices.
• The demonstrated performance metrics are suitable for various applications in optical communications and sensing.