Lithographic wavelength control of an external cavity laser with a silicon photonic crystal cavity-based resonant reflector

Abstract

We report the experimental demonstration of a new design for external cavity hybrid lasers consisting of a III-V semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with fiber reflector and a photonic crystal (PhC)-based resonant reflector on SOI. The silicon reflector is composed of an SU8 polymer bus waveguide vertically coupled to a PhC cavity and provides a wavelength-selective optical feedback to the laser cavity. This device exhibits milliwatt-level output power and side-mode suppression ratios of more than 25 dB.