168 channels x 6 GHz from a multiwavelength mode-locked semiconductor laser

Author

Mielke, M. ; Alphonse, G.A. ; Delfyett, P.J.

Author_Institution

Center for Res. & Educ. in Opt. & Lasers, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Volume

15

Issue

4

fYear

2003

fDate

4/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

501

Lastpage

503

Abstract

A gain-flattened multiwavelength mode-locked semiconductor laser generates 168 discrete wavelength channels at 6 GHz. Intracavity etalon filtering delineates the 0.12-nm-spaced channels while spatial filtering inside a spectrometer broadens the laser spectrum to 20 nm. Mode locking produces 85-ps pulses in each channel at 750 MHz. The pulse-repetition rate is multiplied to 6 GHz per channel via optical time-division multiplexing to yield an aggregate pulse rate of 1 THz.

Keywords

laser mode locking; light interferometers; optical communication equipment; semiconductor lasers; spatial filters; telecommunication channels; time division multiplexing; wavelength division multiplexing; 85 ps; aggregate pulse rate; gain-flattened multiwavelength mode-locked semiconductor laser; intracavity etalon filtering; laser mode locking; laser spectrum; multiwavelength mode-locked semiconductor laser; optical time-division multiplexing; pulse-repetition rate; spatial filtering; spectrometer; wavelength channels; Fiber lasers; Laser mode locking; Optical filters; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Optical transmitters; Semiconductor laser arrays; Semiconductor lasers; Surface emitting lasers; Wavelength division multiplexing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2003.809291

Filename

1190183