Optical frequency synthesizer with an integrated erbium tunable laser

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Integrated Optics
• Laser Technology

Background:

• Optical frequency synthesizers are crucial for spectroscopy and metrology but are often limited by size, cost, and power consumption.
• Silicon photonics offers a promising platform for miniaturizing optical systems due to its compatibility with established semiconductor fabrication processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a fully integrated, silicon-based optical frequency synthesizer.
• To address the limitations of conventional optical frequency synthesizers by leveraging silicon photonics.

Main Methods:

• Development of a silicon-based tunable laser integrated into an optical frequency synthesizer.
• Implementation of a self-calibration mechanism by tuning the repetition rate of an internal mode-locked laser.
• Characterization of the synthesizer's tuning range, frequency instability, and reconfigurability.

Main Results:

• Achieved a 20 nm tuning range (1544–1564 nm) with a frequency instability of approximately 10⁻¹³ at 10 s averaging time.
• Demonstrated the flexibility and fast reconfigurability of the synthesizer through fine tuning and pattern generation.
• Validated the performance of the integrated silicon-based tunable laser.

Conclusions:

• The developed optical frequency synthesizer offers a low-cost, compact, and power-efficient solution.
• This work advances the frequency stability of silicon-based integrated tunable lasers.
• Paves the way for chip-scale, low-cost optical frequency synthesizers for diverse applications.