Photonic integrated circuit including compact lasers with extended tunability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12199405-B2
Application number	US-201615237635-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2016
Priority date	Apr 29, 2015
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

Consistent with the present disclosure, a compact laser with extended tunability (CLET) is provided that includes multiple segments or sections, at least one of which is curved, bent or non-collinear with other segments, so that the CLET has a compact form factor either as a singular laser or when integrated with other devices. The term CLET, as used herein, refers to any of the laser configurations disclosed herein having mirrors and a bent, angled or curved part, portion or section between such mirrors. If bent, the bent portion is preferably oriented at an angle of at least 30 degrees relative to other portions of the CLET. Alternatively, the curve or bend portion may be distributed over different sections of the CLET over a series of arcs, for example. The waveguide extending between the mirrors is continuous, such that light propagating along the waveguide is not divided or split. The waveguide also constitutes a continuous waveguide path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A photonic integrated circuit, comprising:
a substrate;
a 90 degree optical hybrid provided on the substrate;
a plurality of optical elements provided on the substrate, the optical elements being selected from the group consisting of one or more: optical modulators, optical combiners, optical splitters, optical demultiplexers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, and photodetectors; and
at least one tunable laser provided on the substrate, said at least one tunable laser being optical coupled to at least one of the optical elements, the tunable laser including:
a waveguide having first and second mirror sections, the first and second mirror sections being provided in first and second regions, respectively, of the waveguide, a cavity portion of the waveguide extending continuously from the first mirror section to the second mirror section, the cavity portion including a phase section, a first gain section, and a second gain section, part of the cavity portion, outside the first and second gain sections, includes a Group III-V material, a first part of the cavity portion extending in a first direction and a second part of the cavity portion extending in a second direction different than the first direction,
wherein light propagating in the cavity portion is undivided along an entire length of the cavity portion,
the cavity portion outside the gain section including a Group III-V material, at least part of the cavity portion having an arcuate shape.

2. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the gain section of at least one of the plurality of tunable lasers extends in the first direction and one of the phase section and a routing section of said at least one of the plurality of tunable lasers extends in the second direction.

3. A photonic integrated circuit, including:
a substrate;
an 90 degree optical hybrid; and
a plurality of lasers provided on the substrate, one of the plurality of lasers being optically coupled to the 90 degree optical hybrid, each of the plurality of lasers including:
a waveguide, the waveguide having first, second and third sections that extend parallel to one another, the first section includes a first mirror portion, the second section includes a first gain portion, a second gain portion, and a phase portion, and the third section includes a second mirror portion, wherein first light is output from the first section and second light is output from the third section and the first and second mirror portions being provided in first and second regions, respectively, of the waveguide, the first and second mirror portions defining a cavity, part of the cavity, outside the gain portion, including a Group III-V material.

4. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 wherein the waveguide includes a bend, at least a portion of the phase section including the bend.

5. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the waveguide of each tunable laser is bent.

6. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least the gain section and the first and second mirror sections of the waveguide are provided substantially along the same crystallographic axis.

7. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit includes one tunable laser, and the optical elements include a Mach-Zehnder modulator, the Mach-Zehnder modulator receiving light output from the tunable laser, and outputting a modulated optical signal.

8. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit includes one tunable laser, and the optical elements include a first Mach-Zehnder modulator and a second Mach-Zehnder modulator, tunable laser having first and second outputs, the first output of the tunable laser supplying first light to the first Mach-Zehnder modulator, and the second output supplying second light to the second Mach-Zehnder modulator.

9. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit includes a plurality of tunable lasers, and the optical elements include a plurality of Mach-Zehnder modulators, each of the plurality of tunable lasers supplying a respective one of a plurality of lights to a respective one of the plurality of Mach-Zehnder modulators, each of the plurality of Mach-Zehnder modulators supplying a respective one of a plurality of modulated optical signals.

10. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the optical elements include first Mach-Zehnder modulators and second Mach-Zehnder modulators, and a plurality of tunable lasers, each of which having first and second optical outputs, the first optical output of each of the plurality of tunable lasers supplies first light to a corresponding one of the first Mach-Zehnder modulators, and the second optical output supplies second light to a corresponding one of the second Mach-Zehnder modulators.

11. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit includes one tunable laser, and the 90 degree optical hybrid receiving local oscillator light output from the tunable laser and mixing the local oscillator light with a modulated optical signal.

12. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the optical hybrid is a first 90 degree optical hybrid, the photonic integrated circuit further including:
a second 90 degree optical hybrid; and
the tunable laser having first and second outputs, the first output of the tunable laser supplying first local oscillator light to the first 90 degree optical hybrid, and the second output supplying second local oscillator light to the second 90 degree optical hybrid, the first and second 90 degree optical hybrids mixing the first and second local oscillator lights with first and second modulated optical signals, respectively.

13. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit includes a plurality of tunable lasers, and the 90 degree optical hybrid is one of a plurality of 90 degree optical hybrids included in the photonic integrated circuit, each of the plurality of tunable lasers supplying a respective one of a plurality of local oscillator lights to a respective one of the plurality of 90 degree optical hybrids, each of the plurality of 90 degree optical hybrids also receiving a respective one of a plurality of modulated optical signals.

14. The photonic integrated circuit in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the 90 degree optical hybrid is one of first 90 degree optical hybrids included in the photonic integrated circuit, the photonic integrated circuit further including second 90 degree optical hybrids, and a plurality of tunable lasers, each of which having first and second optical outputs, the first optical output of each of the plurality of tunable lasers supplies first local oscillator light to a corresponding one of the first 90 degeree optical hybrids, and the second optical output supplies second local oscillator light to a corresponding one of the second 90 degree optical hybrids.

15. A transceiver photonic integrated circuit, comprising:
a substrate;
a first laser provided on the substrate, the first laser including a first waveguide having first and second mirror sections and a first cavity portion extending continuously between the first and second mirror sections, the first cavity portion including a first gain section and a second gain section, the first and second mirror sections being provid

Assignees

• Infinera Corp

Inventors

• Evans Peter W
• Kish Jr Fred A
• Lal Vikrant
• Corzine Scott
• Lu Mingzhi

Classifications

• H01S5/068

  Stabilisation of laser output parameters (H01S5/0625 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01S5/3013

  AIIIBV compounds · CPC title

• H01S5/1028

  Coupling to elements in the cavity, e.g. coupling to waveguides adjacent the active region, e.g. forward coupled [DFC] structures · CPC title

• H01S5/06821

  Stabilising other output parameters than intensity or frequency, e.g. phase, polarisation or far-fields · CPC title

• H01S5/0265

  Intensity modulators (intra-cavity modulators H01S5/0625) · CPC title