1.3-µm identical active electro-absorption modulated laser with quantum well intermixed passive waveguide.

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optoelectronics
• Semiconductor Device Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Monolithic integration of photonic devices is crucial for advanced optical systems.
• Quantum well intermixing (QWI) offers a pathway for fabricating complex photonic integrated circuits.
• Electro-absorption modulated lasers (EMLs) require careful design to balance lasing and modulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of QWI on the performance of identical-active electro-absorption modulated lasers (IA-EMLs).
• To optimize the QWI process for reducing absorptive waveguide regions in IA-EMLs.
• To compare modulation characteristics of IA-EMLs with different QWI strategies.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of IA-EMLs utilizing QWI in targeted regions.
• Comparative analysis of IA-EMLs with QWI in waveguide only, waveguide and electro-absorption modulator (EAM) regions, and no QWI.
• Characterization of modulation performance, including driving voltage and extinction ratio.

Main Results:

• QWI effectively suppresses unwanted absorption in the waveguide region of IA-EMLs.
• IA-EMLs with QWI solely in the waveguide region demonstrated superior modulation performance.
• Optimized QWI resulted in lower driving voltages and a higher extinction ratio.

Conclusions:

• Selective QWI is a highly effective technique for mitigating waveguide absorption in IA-EMLs.
• The proposed method enhances modulation characteristics, paving the way for improved photonic devices.
• This approach simplifies the fabrication process for advanced photonic integrated circuits.