Narrow linewidth swept laser source based on cascaded multi-wavelength injection of DFB lasers

A linearly swept laser source over broadband with a fast sweep rate and narrow linewidth is realized using a novel optoelectronic scheme based on a multi-wavelengths (mutually coherent) injected distributed feedback (DFB) laser. Under the condition of multi-wavelengths injection, the injection-locking and four-wave mixing (FWM) process can occur simultaneously in the DFB laser, inducing a swept laser source with a sweep range of 100 GHz and sweep rate of 10 THz/s. Furthermore, with the phase noise character analyzation of the swept laser source, the phase noise deterioration due to the radio frequency (RF) signal is studied quantitatively. Besides the influence of the RF signal noise, the phase noise deterioration in the FWM process can be suppressed completely with the phase-locked pump beam and signal beam based on the injection-locking principle. This low phase noise swept laser source with sub-kilohertz linewidth could have wide applications in lidar.