A discretely tunable mode-locked laser with 32 wavelengths and 100-GHz channel spacing using an arrayed waveguide grating

Author

Tamura, K.R. ; Inoue, Y. ; Sato, K. ; Komukai, T. ; Sugita, A. ; Nakazawa, M.

Author_Institution

NTT Network Innovations Labs., Kanagawa, Japan

Volume

13

Issue

11

fYear

2001

Firstpage

1227

Lastpage

1229

Abstract

We demonstrate a tunable mode-locked laser (time-to-wavelength mapped laser) with a 100-GHz channel spacing (1535.5-1560.5 nm) that uses a 32-wavelength silica-on-silicon planar lightwave circuit arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) for realizing a wavelength-dependent delay. The wavelength is selected by changing the mode-locking frequency. Mode-locking was realized by modulating the electroabsorption modulator (/spl sim/10 GHz) or the gain of the semiconductor amplifier (/spl sim/5 GHz). By matching the period of the Fabry-Perot resonances in the InGaAsP device with the channel spacing of the AWG, wavelength tuning was realized over a broad wavelength range by only changing the mode-locking frequency.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; diffraction gratings; electro-optical modulation; electroabsorption; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; indium compounds; integrated optoelectronics; laser mode locking; laser tuning; optical arrays; optical waveguides; semiconductor optical amplifiers; 1535.5 to 1560.5 nm; Fabry-Perot resonances; GHz channel spacing; InGaAsP; InGaAsP device; SOAs; SiO/sub 2/-Si; SiO/sub 2/-on-Si 32-wavelength planar lightwave circuit arrayed waveguide grating; arrayed waveguide grating; broad wavelength range; channel spacing; discretely tunable mode-locked laser; electroabsorption modulator; mode-locking frequency; semiconductor optical amplifier gain; semiconductor optical amplifiers; time-to-wavelength mapped laser; wavelength tuning; wavelength-dependent delay; Arrayed waveguide gratings; Channel spacing; Frequency; Laser mode locking; Optical arrays; Planar waveguides; Semiconductor laser arrays; Semiconductor waveguides; Tunable circuits and devices; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.959372

Filename

959372