Tunable soi laser

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016164246-A1
Application number	US-201615042803-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 12, 2016
Priority date	Jan 20, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A wavelength tunable silicon-on-insulator (SOI) laser comprising: a laser cavity including: a semiconductor gain medium having a front end and a back end, wherein a mirror of the laser cavity is located at the back end of the semiconductor gain medium; and a phase-tunable waveguide platform coupled to the front end of the semiconductor gain medium, the phase-tunable waveguide platform comprising: a first resonator and a second resonator; at least one resonator being a phase-tunable resonator; wherein the first resonator is any one of: an MMI device including a pair of reflective surfaces defining a resonator cavity therebetween such that the device is configured to act as a Fabry-Perot filter; a ring resonator; or a waveguide Fabry-Perot filter; and wherein the second resonator is any one of: an MMI device including a pair of reflective surfaces defining a resonator cavity therebetween such that the device is configured to act as a Fabry-Perot filter; a ring resonator; or a waveguide Fabry-Perot filter.

First claim

1 . A wavelength tunable silicon-on-insulator (SOI) laser comprising:
a laser cavity including: a semiconductor gain medium having a front end and a back end; and a phase-tunable waveguide platform coupled to the front end of the semiconductor gain medium, the phase-tunable waveguide platform comprising:
a first waveguide Fabry-Perot filter; and
a second waveguide Fabry-Perot filter, at least one of the Fabry-Perot filters being a phase-tunable Fabry-Perot filter,
wherein a mirror of the laser cavity is located at the back end of the semiconductor gain medium.

2 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the first and second Fabry-Perot filters are formed by a total of three cascaded Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) gratings.

3 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the first and second Fabry-Perot filters are formed by a total of three waveguide partial reflectors.

4 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the phase-tunable waveguide platform includes bifurcated waveguides, one arm of the bifurcated waveguides comprising both the first and second Fabry-Perot filters in a series arrangement.

5 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 4 , wherein a bifurcated waveguide of the bifurcated waveguides is a Y-branch waveguide.

6 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 4 , wherein the phase-tunable waveguide platform includes a 1×2 coupler which couples light from the semiconductor gain medium into:
a first branch containing the first and second Fabry-Perot filters; and
a second branch containing an output of the wavelength tunable SOI laser.

7 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the phase-tunable Fabry-Perot filter includes a phase tuning region which comprises an electro-optical medium.

8 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the phase-tunable Fabry-Perot filter includes a phase tuning region which comprises a p-i-n junction region.

9 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the phase-tunable Fabry-Perot filter includes a phase tuning region which comprises a p-n junction device.

10 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein both the first Fabry-Perot filter and the second Fabry-Perot filter are tunable Fabry-Perot filters.

11 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 10 ,
wherein a phase tuning region of the first Fabry-Perot filter is any one of: a p-n junction or p-i-n junction; and wherein a phase tuning region of the second Fabry-Perot filter is any one of: a p-n junction; or p-i-n junction.

12 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the phase-tunable waveguide platform comprises at least one transition region at which a waveguide of a first height is coupled to a waveguide of a second height; the second height being less than the first height.

13 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 12 , wherein the first and second Fabry-Perot filters are located in a waveguide of a second height.

14 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 12 , wherein the transition region includes a taper.

15 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 12 , wherein the transition region is a mode transformer.

16 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 1 , wherein the phase-tunable waveguide platform comprises a transition region at which a waveguide of a first width is coupled to a waveguide of a second width; the second width being less than the first width.

17 . The wavelength tunable SOI laser of claim 16 , wherein the first and second Fabry-Perot filters are located in a waveguide of said second width.

Assignees

• Rockley Photonics Ltd

Inventors

• Rickman Andrew
• Zilkie Aaron John

Classifications

• H01S3/105

  by controlling the mutual position or the reflecting properties of the reflectors of the cavity {, e.g. by controlling the cavity length}({H01S3/10076}, H01S3/13 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01S5/10 Primary

  Construction or shape of the optical resonator {, e.g. extended or external cavity, coupled cavities, bent-guide, varying width, thickness or composition of the active region (H01S5/20 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• H01S3/10053

  Phase control · CPC title

• H01S5/021 Primary

  Silicon based substrates · CPC title

• G02B6/12007

  forming wavelength selective elements, e.g. multiplexer, demultiplexer · CPC title