Photonic devices and methods of using and making photonic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9806485-B2
Application number	US-201615052809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2016
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

Examples of the present invention include integrated erbium-doped waveguide lasers designed for silicon photonic systems. In some examples, these lasers include laser cavities defined by distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) formed in silicon nitride-based waveguides. These DBRs may include grating features defined by wafer-scale immersion lithography, with an upper layer of erbium-doped aluminum oxide deposited as the final step in the fabrication process. The resulting inverted ridge-waveguide yields high optical intensity overlap with the active medium for both the 980 nm pump (89%) and 1.5 μm laser (87%) wavelengths with a pump-laser intensity overlap of over 93%. The output powers can be 5 mW or higher and show lasing at widely-spaced wavelengths within both the C- and L-bands of the erbium gain spectrum (1536, 1561 and 1596 nm).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of guiding an optical signal beam in a photonic device, the photonic device comprising a substrate, a dielectric layer disposed on the substrate and having a first refractive index, at least one dielectric strip disposed within the dielectric layer and having a second refractive index greater than the first refractive index, and a gain layer disposed in contact with the dielectric layer and having a third refractive index greater than the first refractive index, the method comprising:
coupling the optical signal beam into a waveguide region of the gain layer disposed over the at least one dielectric strip so as to guide the optical signal beam in a propagation direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the at least one dielectric strip; and
coupling an optical pump beam into the waveguide region of the gain layer so as to amplify the optical signal beam,
wherein a majority of the optical pump beam is confined within the gain layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
coupling the optical pump beam into the waveguide region of the gain layer from a curved waveguide region of the gain layer disposed over a curved dielectric strip region embedded within the dielectric layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
coupling the optical pump beam into the waveguide region of the gain layer from a tapered waveguide region of the gain layer disposed over a tapered dielectric strip region embedded within the dielectric layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reflecting at least a portion of the optical signal beam within the a portion of waveguide guide region disposed over a grating formed in the at least one dielectric strip.

5. A method of guiding an optical signal beam in a photonic device, the photonic device comprising a substrate, a dielectric layer disposed on the substrate and having a first refractive index, at least one dielectric strip disposed within the dielectric layer and having a second refractive index greater than the first refractive index, and a gain layer disposed in contact with the dielectric layer and having a third refractive index greater than the first refractive index, the method comprising:
coupling the optical signal beam into a waveguide region of the gain layer disposed over the at least one dielectric strip so as to guide the optical signal beam in a propagation direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the at least one dielectric strip; and
coupling an optical pump beam into the waveguide region of the gain layer so as to amplify the optical signal beam,
wherein the optical pump beam has a wavelength of λ p and the at least one dielectric strip is disposed a distance of at least λ p /4 from a boundary between the dielectric layer and the gain layer.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
coupling the optical pump beam into the waveguide region of the gain layer from a curved waveguide region of the gain layer disposed over a curved dielectric strip region embedded within the dielectric layer.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
coupling the optical pump beam into the waveguide region of the gain layer from a tapered waveguide region of the gain layer disposed over a tapered dielectric strip region embedded within the dielectric layer.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
reflecting at least a portion of the optical signal beam within the a portion of waveguide guide region disposed over a grating formed in the at least one dielectric strip.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
stimulating emission of light at a wavelength of the optical signal beam in the waveguide region of the gain layer.

Assignees

• Purnawirman Purnawirman
• Watts Michael R
• Hosseini Ehsan Shah
• Bradley Jonathan B
• Sun Jie
• Cherchi Matteo
• Massachusetts Inst Technology

Inventors

• Purnawirman Purnawirman
• Watts Michael R
• Hosseini Ehsan Shah
• Bradley Jonathan B
• Sun Jie
• Cherchi Matteo

Classifications

• H01S3/0637

  Integrated lateral waveguide, e.g. the active waveguide is integrated on a substrate made by Si on insulator technology (Si/SiO2) · CPC title

• H01S3/1053

  Control by pressure or deformation · CPC title

• H01S3/17

  amorphous, e.g. glass · CPC title

• H01S3/091

  using optical pumping · CPC title

• H01S3/083

  Ring lasers {(fibre ring lasers H01S3/06791)} · CPC title