Multi-wavelength laser light source and wavelength multiplexing communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9705282-B2
Application number	US-201615135838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2016
Priority date	May 12, 2015
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

A multi-wavelength laser light source includes a gain waveguide having a gain medium and a first mirror; and a waveguide wavelength filter, wherein the waveguide wavelength filter comprises: a first optical waveguide coupled to an end of the gain waveguide opposite to the first mirror, a plurality of ring resonators having input ports coupled to the first optical waveguide and having resonance wavelengths different from each other, a plurality of output waveguides coupled to respective output ports of the plurality of ring resonators, and second mirrors configured to correspondingly reflect, back to the plurality of ring resonators, at least part of light that has traveled via the output waveguides from the plurality of ring resonators.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-wavelength laser light source, comprising:
a gain waveguide having a gain medium and a first mirror; and
a waveguide wavelength filter, wherein
the waveguide wavelength filter comprises:
a first optical waveguide coupled to an end of the gain waveguide opposite to the first mirror,
a plurality of ring resonators having input ports coupled to the first optical waveguide and having resonance wavelengths different from each other,
a plurality of output waveguides coupled to respective output ports of the plurality of ring resonators, and
second mirrors configured to correspondingly reflect, back to the plurality of ring resonators, at least part of light that has traveled via the output waveguides from the plurality of ring resonators.

2. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the second mirror is a distributed Bragg reflector, and
the distributed Bragg reflector includes a wavelength adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a reflection wavelength.

3. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein
the first optical waveguide has a first sub-optical waveguide and a second sub-optical waveguide at least a part of which is arranged in parallel to the first sub-optical waveguide, and
the first sub-optical waveguide and the second sub-optical waveguide are coupled by a wavelength selecting ring resonator.

4. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein the gain medium is a semiconductor optical amplifier.

5. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 4 , wherein the semiconductor optical amplifier has an active layer including quantum dots.

6. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein the waveguide wavelength filter is formed of a silicon optical waveguide.

7. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of ring resonators has a wavelength control mechanism configured to change a resonance wavelength of the ring resonator.

8. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ring resonators have wavelength control mechanisms configured to control resonance wavelengths of the respective ring resonators such that the resonance wavelengths are different from each other.

9. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 3 , wherein
the wavelength selecting ring resonator has a wavelength control mechanism configured to change a resonance wavelength of the wavelength selecting ring resonator, and
each of the plurality of ring resonators has a wavelength control mechanism configured to change a resonance wavelength of the ring resonator.

10. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 3 , wherein
the wavelength selecting ring resonator has a wavelength control mechanism configured to control a resonance wavelength position of the wavelength selecting ring resonator, and
the plurality of ring resonators have wavelength control mechanisms configured to perform control such that resonance wavelength positions of the respective ring resonators match different resonance wavelengths of the wavelength selecting ring resonator.

11. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 8 , wherein the wavelength control mechanism includes a heater.

12. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein each of the output waveguides includes a phase controller.

13. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 12 , wherein the phase controller includes a heater provided on the output waveguide.

14. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 1 , wherein an optical modulator is connected to each of the output waveguides.

15. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 14 , wherein the optical modulator connected to each of the output waveguides is integrated in a monolithic manner with the waveguide wavelength filter.

16. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 14 , wherein the optical modulator is an electro absorption optical modulator or a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator.

17. The multi-wavelength laser light source according to claim 3 , wherein
a first port of a coupler is coupled to each of the output waveguides,
a second port and a third port of the coupler coupled to a loop mirror, and
a fourth port of the coupler is coupled to an optical modulator.

18. A wavelength multiplexing communication system, comprising:
a multi-wavelength laser light source comprises:
a gain waveguide having a gain medium and a first mirror; and
a waveguide wavelength filter, wherein the waveguide wavelength filter comprises:
a first optical waveguide coupled to an end of the gain waveguide opposite to the first mirror,
a plurality of ring resonators having input ports coupled to the first optical waveguide and having resonance wavelengths different from each other,
a plurality of output waveguides coupled to respective output ports of the plurality of ring resonators, and
second mirrors configured to correspondingly reflect, back to the plurality of ring resonators, at least part of light that has traveled via the output waveguides from the plurality of ring resonators;

an optical multiplexer coupled to an emitting end side of the multi-wavelength laser light source; and
an optical fiber coupled to an emitting end of the optical multiplexer.

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Takabayashi Kazumasa
• Yamamoto Tsuyoshi

Classifications

• H01S5/1096

  in a single cavity · CPC title

• H01S5/101

  Curved waveguide (H01S5/1243 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01S5/1092

  Multi-wavelength lasing · CPC title

• H01S5/1071

  Ring-lasers · CPC title

• H01S5/06

  Arrangements for controlling the laser output parameters, e.g. by operating on the active medium · CPC title