Integrated high-power tunable laser with adjustable outputs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016013609-A1
Application number	US-201514797018-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 10, 2015
Priority date	Jul 11, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A tunable laser that includes an array of parallel optical amplifiers is described. The laser may also include an intracavity N×M coupler that couples power between a cavity mirror and the array of parallel optical amplifiers. Phase adjusters in optical paths between the N×M coupler and the optical amplifiers can be used to adjust an amount of power output from M−1 ports of the N×M coupler. A tunable wavelength filter is incorporated in the laser cavity to select a lasing wavelength.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A laser having a laser cavity comprising:
a first reflector at a first end of the laser cavity; an intracavity N×M coupler arranged to receive light from the first reflector at a first port and distribute the light to N output ports; Q optical amplifiers arranged to amplify light from at least some of the N output ports to produce amplified light; and at least one second reflector arranged to reflect the amplified light back to the N×M coupler, where Q≧2.

2 . The laser of claim 1 , further comprising at least one phase shifter in at least one optical path between the N×M coupler and the Q optical amplifiers.

3 . The laser of claim 2 , wherein the at least one phase shifter comprises at least one thermo-optic phase shifter.

4 . The laser of claim 2 , further comprising M−1 power ports connected to the N×M coupler, wherein the at least one phase shifter is adjustable to alter an amount of laser power from at least one of the M−1 power ports.

5 . The laser of claim 4 , further comprising:
a detector arranged to sense an optical power from one of the M−1 power ports; and a feedback circuit arranged to receive a power signal from the detector and alter a phase of a phase shifter responsive to the received power signal.

6 . The laser of claim 1 , further comprising a tunable wavelength filter in the laser cavity and coupled to the N×M coupler.

7 . The laser of claim 6 , wherein the tunable wavelength filter comprises at least one ring resonator coupled to a waveguide.

8 . The laser of claim 6 , wherein the tunable wavelength filter is configured to tune a wavelength of the laser over a range of wavelengths, the range of wavelengths lying between 1200 nm and 1700 nm.

9 . The laser of claim 1 , wherein the first reflector and the N×M coupler are integrated on a first substrate and the Q optical amplifiers are integrated on a second substrate.

10 . The laser of claim 9 , further comprising:
first microfabricated waveguides on the first substrate and second microfabricated waveguides on the second substrate arranged to couple the N output ports of the N×M coupler to the Q optical amplifiers; and mode-size adapters located between the first microfabricated waveguides and the second microfabricated waveguides.

11 . The laser of claim 10 , wherein the first microfabricated waveguides are butt-coupled to the second microfabricated waveguides.

12 . The laser of claim 9 , wherein the first substrate comprises a silicon photonics chip and the second substrate comprises indium-phosphide.

13 . The laser of claim 12 , further comprising:
M−1 power ports connected to the N×M coupler; a coherent optical receiver on the silicon photonics chip, wherein a first of the M−1 power ports is connected to the coherent receiver; and an optical modulator on the silicon photonics chip, wherein a second of the M−1 power ports is connected to the optical modulator.

14 . A method of generating coherent light, the method comprising:
reflecting light from a first reflector; distributing the light, with an N×M coupler, to N optical paths; producing amplified light by amplifying light in at least some of the N optical paths; and returning the amplified light to the N×M coupler and first reflector.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein producing amplified light by amplifying light in at least some of the N optical paths comprises amplifying the light with Q semiconductor optical amplifiers coupled to Q optical waveguides.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein returning the amplified light comprises returning the amplified light from a first semiconductor material to a second semiconductor material in which the N×M coupler is fabricated, wherein the first semiconductor material is different from the second semiconductor material.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the first semiconductor material comprises indium phosphide and the second semiconductor material comprises silicon.

18 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising adjusting a tunable filter to select a wavelength of the light reflected from the first reflector, wherein the wavelength is between approximately 1200 nm and approximately 1700 nm.

19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
providing portions of coherent light out M−1 power ports connected to the N×M coupler; and adjusting a phase of light in at least one of the N optical paths to alter an amount of power in at least one of the M−1 power ports.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
providing a first signal from a first power port of the M−1 power ports to a coherent optical receiver located on a same chip as the N×M coupler; and providing a second signal from a second power port of the M−1 power ports to an optical modulator located on the same chip.

21 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
mixing the first signal as a local oscillator with a received optical signal; and modulating the second signal as a carrier wave to encode at least a portion of a transmitted optical signal.

Assignees

• Acacia Communications Inc

Inventors

• Doerr Christopher

Classifications

• H01S5/1246

  plurality of phase shifts · CPC title

• H01S3/1301

  in optical amplifiers · CPC title

• H01S3/10007

  in optical amplifiers · CPC title

• H01S5/0687

  Stabilising the frequency of the laser · CPC title

• H01S5/32391

  based on In(Ga)(As)P · CPC title