Frequency modulated hybrid photonic crystal laser by thermal tuning

We demonstrate frequency modulation (FM) in an external cavity (EC) III-V/silicon laser, comprising a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) and a silicon nitride (SiN) waveguide vertically coupled to a 2D silicon photonic crystal (PhC) cavity. The PhC cavity acts as a tunable narrowband reflector giving wavelength selectivity. The FM was achieved by thermo-optical modulation of the reflector via a p-n junction. Single-mode operation was ensured by the short cavity length, overlapping only one longitudinal laser mode with the reflector. We investigate the effect of reflector modulation theoretically and experimentally and predict a substantial tracking of the resonator by the laser frequency with very small intensity modulation (IM).

Citation

Butler , S M , Bakoz , A P , Singaravelu , P K J , Liles , A A , O’Shaughnessy , B , Viktorov , E A , O’Faolain , L & Hegarty , S P 2019 , ' Frequency modulated hybrid photonic crystal laser by thermal tuning ' , Optics Express , vol. 27 , no. 8 , pp. 11312-11322 . https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.011312

Publication

Optics Express

Status

Peer reviewed

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.011312

ISSN

1094-4087

Type

Journal article

Rights

Copyright © 2019 The Author(s), Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Description

Funding: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI 12/RC/2276, SFI 16/ERCS/3838); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (doctoral grant EP/L505079/1); H2020 European Research Council (ERC) (starting grant 337508); Scottish Enterprise; Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) (Rísam); Irish Government’s Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, Cycle 5, Strand 1a (CREATE).

Collections

University of St Andrews Research

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10023/17627