Integration of Functional SOA on the Gain Chip of an External Cavity Wavelength Tunable Laser Using Etched Mirror Technology

• Published in: IEEE journal of selected topics in quantum electronics Vol. 13; no. 5; pp. 1104 - 1111
• Main Authors: Nielsen, M.L., Sudo, S., Mizutani, K., Okamoto, T., Tsuruoka, K., Sato, K., Kudo, K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-09-2007; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Amplification; Attenuators; Chips; Costs; Etching; External cavity; Gain; Holes; Lasers; Mirrors; Modulators; Optical attenuators; Optical variables control; Power generation; Semiconductor lasers; semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA); Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Tunable circuits and devices; tunable laser; Wavelength division multiplexing
• ISSN: 1077-260X; 1558-4542
• DOI: 10.1109/JSTQE.2007.903847

A gap-mirror technology for integrating a functional section onto a laser gain chip is presented. A semiconductor optical amplifier, implementing several functions, is integrated on the gain chip used in an external cavity laser, and demonstrated as a high-performance variable attenuator and data modulator at 2.5 Gb/s. Control of the mirror properties through the gap geometry is demonstrated, and further optimization is realized by a gap-filling technique, which increases the output power to above 100 mW across the C -band.