2021/10/27 by Zhuohui Yang, Zhengqing Ding, Yang, Zhuohui +20
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #Dielectric #Distributed Bragg reflector #Distributed feedback laser #FOS: Physical sciences #Fiber Bragg grating #Grating #Laser #Materials science #Optics #Optics (physics.optics) #Optoelectronics #Photonic and Optical Devices #Photonics #Physics #Relative intensity noise #Semiconductor #Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices #Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices #Semiconductor laser theory #physics.app-ph #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2110.14186
18 Pages,5 Figures
arxiv created 2021/10/27 · openalex publication_date 2021/10/27 · arxiv updated 2021/10/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The combination of grating-based frequency-selective optical feedback mechanisms, such as distributed feedback (DFB) or distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) structures, with quantum dot (QD) gain materials is a main approach towards ultra-high-performance semiconductor lasers for many key novel applications, either as stand-alone sources or as on-chip sources in photonic integrated circuits. However, the fabrication of conventional buried Bragg grating structures on GaAs, GaAs/Si, GaSb and other material platforms have been met with major material regrowth difficulties. We report a novel and universal approach of introducing laterally coupled dielectric Bragg gratings to semiconductor lasers that allows highly controllable, reliable and strong coupling between the grating and the optical mode. We implement such a grating structure in a low-loss amorphous silicon material alongside GaAs lasers with InAs/GaAs QD gain layers. The resulting DFB laser arrays emit at pre-designed 0.8 THz LWDM frequency intervals in the 1300 nm band with record performance parameters, including side mode suppression ratios as high as 52.7 dB, continuous-wave output power of 27.7 mW (room-temperature) and 10 mW (at 70°C), and ultra-low relative intensity noise (RIN) of < -165 dB/Hz (2.5-25 GHz). The devices are also capable of operating isolator-free under very high external reflection levels of up to -12.3 dB whilst maintaining the high spectral and ultra-low RIN qualities. These results validate the novel laterally coupled dielectric grating as a technologically superior and potentially cost-effective approach for fabricating DFB and DBR lasers free of their semiconductor material constraints, thus universally applicable across different material platforms and wavelength bands.