Mode suppression in injection locked multi-mode and single-mode lasers for optical demultiplexing

Abstract

Optical injection locking has been demonstrated as an effective filter for optical communications. These optical filters have advantages over conventional passive filters, as they can be used on active material, allowing them to be monolithically integrated onto an optical circuit. We present an experimental and theoretical study of the optical suppression in injection locked Fabry–Pérot and slotted Fabry–Pérot lasers. We consider both single frequency and optical comb injection. Our model is then used to demonstrate that improving the Q factor of devices increases the suppression obtained when injecting optical combs. We show that increasing the Q factor while fixing the device pump rate relative to threshold causes the locking range of these demultiplexers to asymptotically approach a constant value.