Long cavity photonic crystal laser in FDML operation using an akinetic reflective filter

Butler, Sharon M.; Singaravelu, Praveen K. J.; O'Faolain, Liam; Hegarty, Stephen P.

Long cavity photonic crystal laser in FDML operation using an akinetic reflective filter

Files

oe-28-26-38813.pdf(2.87 MB)

Published Version

Date

2020-12-09

Authors

Butler, Sharon M.

Singaravelu, Praveen K. J.

O'Faolain, Liam

Hegarty, Stephen P.

Publisher

Optical Society of America

Published Version

10.1364/OE.410525

Abstract

A novel configuration of a Fourier domain mode locked (FDML) laser based on silicon photonics platform is presented in this work that exploits the narrowband reflection spectrum of a photonic crystal (PhC) cavity resonator. Configured as a linear Fabry-Perot laser, forward biasing of a p-n junction on the PhC cavity allowed for thermal tuning of the spectrum. The modulation frequency applied to the reflector equalled the inverse roundtrip time of the long cavity resulting in stable FDML operation over the swept wavelength range. An interferometric phase measurement measured the sweeping instantaneous frequency of the laser. The silicon photonics platform has potential for very compact implementation, and the electro-optic modulation method opens the possibility of modulation speeds far beyond those of mechanical filters.

Keywords

Swept , Modulation , Dynamics , Time

Citation

Butler, S. M., Singaravelu, P. K. J., O'Faolain, L. and Hegarty, S. P. (2020) 'Long cavity photonic crystal laser in FDML operation using an akinetic reflective filter', Optics Express, 28(26), pp. 38813-38821. doi: 10.1364/OE.410525