Waveguide external cavity narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers

Narrow linewidth light source is a prerequisite for high-performance coherent optical communication and sensing.Waveguide-based external cavity narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers(WEC-NLSLs)have become a competitive and attractive candidate for many coherent applications due to their small size,volume,low energy consumption,low cost and the ability to integrate with other optical components.In this paper,we present an overview of WEC-NLSLs from their required technologies to the state-of-the-art progress.Moreover,we highlight the common problems occurring to current WEC-NLSLs and show the possible approaches to resolving the issues.Finally,we present the possible development directions for the next phase and hope this review will be beneficial to the advancements of WEC-NLSLs.

Intensity modulation in single-mode microchip Nd：YAG lasers with asymmetric external cavity

Intensity modulation induced by the asymmetric external cavity in single-mode microchip Nd：YAG lasers is prosented. Two kinds of experimental results are discussed based on multiple feedback effects. In one case, the intensity modulation curve is a normal sine wave, whose fringe frequency is four times higher than that of a conventional optical feedback system, caused by multiple feedback effects. In the other case, the intensity modulation curve is the overlapping of the above quadruple-frequency signal and conventional optical feedback signal, which is determined by the additional phase difference induced by the asymmetric external cavity. The theoretical analyses are in good agreement with the experimental results. The quadruple-frequency modulation of the laser output intensity can greatly increase the resolution of displacement measurement of an optical feedback system.

Broad bandwidth interference filter-stabilized external cavity diode laser with narrow linewidth below 100kHz

Interference filter-stabilized external cavity diode lasers （ECDLs） have properties of simple configurations, high sta- bilities, and narrow linewidths. However, the interference filter used in common ECDL designs requires an ultra-narrow bandwidth （about 0.3 nm） to achieve mode selection, that is considerably expensive and not yet available for a wide range of wavelengths. In this paper, a robust ECDL using an available broad bandwidth （about 4 nm） interference filter as the wavelength discriminator is constructed and tested. The ECDL demonstrated a narrow Lorentzian fitted linewidth of 95 kHz and a spectral purity of 2.9 MHz. The long-term frequency stability of the ECDL reaches 5.59 x 10 12.

A broadband external cavity tunable InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser by utilizing only the ground state emission

A broadband external cavity tunable laser is realized by using a broad-emitting spectral InAs/GaAs quantum dot （QD） gain device. A tuning range of 69 nm with a central wavelength of 1056 nm, is achieved at a bias of 1.25 kA/cm^2only by utilizing the light emission from the ground state of QDs. This large tunable range only covers the QD ground-state emission and is related to the inhomogeneous size distribution of QDs. No excited state contributes to the tuning bandwidth. The application of the QD gain device to the external cavity tunable laser shows its immense potential in broadening the tuning bandwidth. By the external cavity feedback, the threshold current densitycan be reduced remarkably compared with the free-running QD gain device.

Broadband tunable external cavity laser using a bent-waveguide quantum-dot superluminescent diode as gain device

A broadband tunable grating-coupled external cavity laser is realized by employing a self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum-dot （QD） superluminescent diode （SLD） as the gain device. The SLD device is processed with a bent-waveguide structure and facet antireflection （AR） coating. Tuning bandwidths of 106 nm and 117 nm are achieved under a-A and 3.5-A injection currents, respectively. The large tuning range originates essentially from the broad gain spectrum of self-assembled QDs. The bent waveguide structure combined with the facet AR coating plays a role in suppressing the inner-cavity lasing under a large injection current.

Wavelength-tunable prism-coupled external cavity passively mode-locked quantum-dot laser

A wavelength-tunable mode-locked quantum dot laser using an InAs/GaAs quantum-dot gain medium and a discrete semiconductor saturable absorber mirror is demonstrated. A dispersion prism, which has lower optical loss and less spectral narrowing than a blazed grating, is used for wavelength selection and tuning. A wavelength tuning range of 45.5 nm （from 1137.3 nm to 1182.8 nm） under 140-mA injection current in the passive mode-locked regime is achieved. The maximum average power of 19 mW is obtained at the 1170.3-nm wavelength, corresponding to the single pulse energy of 36.5 pJ.

A grating-coupled external cavity InAs/InP quantum dot laser with 85-nm tuning range

The optical performance of a grating-coupled external Continuous tuning from 1391 nm to 1468 nm is realized at cavity laser based on InAs/InP quantum dots is investigated. an injection current of 1900 mA. With the injection current increasing to 2300 mA, the tuning is blue shifted to some extent to the range from 1383 nm to 1461 nm. By combining the effect of the injection current with the grating tuning, the total tuning bandwidth of the external cavity quantum-dot laser can reach up to 85 nm. The dependence of the threshold current on the tuning wavelength is also presented.

A 1550-nm linearly tunable continuous wave single-mode external cavity diode laser based on a single-cavity all-dielectric thin-film Fabry Pérot filter

A 1550-nm linearly tunable continuous wave （CW） single-mode external cavity diode laser （ECDL） based on a singlecavity all-dielectric thin-film Fabry-Pérot filter （s-AFPF） is proposed and realized in this paper. Its internal optical components as well as their operation mechanisms are introduced first, and then its longitudinal mode output characteristic is theoretically analyzed. Afterwards, we set up the experimental platform for the output characteristic measurement of this tunable ECDL; under different experimental conditions, we execute accurate and real-time measurements for the output central wavelength, output optical power, output longitudinal mode distribution, and the line-width of the tunable ECDL in its tuning process. By summing up the optimal experimental condition from the measured data, we obtain the optimal tunable ECDL relevant parameters： the tunable ECDL has a linear mode-hop-free wavelength tuning region of 1547.203 nm-1552.426 nm, a stable output optical power in the range of 40 μW-50 μW, and a stable output longitudinal mode distribution of a single longitudinal mode with a line-width in the range of 100 MHz-150 MHz. This tunable ECDL can be used in environmental gas monitoring, atomic and molecular laser spectroscopy research, precise measurements, and so on.

External Cavity Tuning of Coherent Quantum Cascade Laser Array Emitting at^7.6μm

An external cavity quantum cascade laser （QCL） array with a wide tuning range and high output power is pre- sented. The coherent QCL array combined with a diffraction grating and gold mirror is tuned in the Littrow configuration. Taking advantage of the single-lobed fundamental supermode far-field pattern, the tuning capa- bility of 30.6cm-1 is achieved with a fixed injected current of 3.5 A at room temperature. Single-mode emission can be observed in the entire process. The maximum single-mode output power of the external cavity setup is as high as 25mW and is essential in real applications.

Facet Reflection Coefficient of Phase-lockedDiode Laser Array in an External Cavity

A diode laser array(DLA)positioned in an external cavity can receive the radiations emitted from its neighboring elements (C 1) and that of itself (S) after being reflected at the DLA facet as well as from the external mirror (C 0). Considering the fact that｜C 0/S｜ should be larger than unity if the external cavity is effective,and｜C 1/S｜ should be larger than unity if the phase locking may be established in the external cavity.The requirements on the reflection at the facet of the diode laser array have been specified in terms of the cavity length and reflection coefficient of the external mirror.

Polarization full feedback external cavity of open loop spectral beam combining based on multi-single emitters laser diode

In this paper,a spectral beam combining(SBC)structure of multi-single emitters laser diode based on a polarization full feedback(PFF)external cavity is proposed and demonstrated.The maximum combining efficiency is 75.6%,which leads to an output power of 38.48 W,a degree of polarization(DOP)of 99.42%,and electro-optical conversion efficiency of 35.63%under continuous wave operation at a current of 8 A.Compared to the conventional SBC,the output power,the combining efficiency,the electro-optical conversion efficiency,and the DOP of the PFF-SBC structure present improvements of 5.73 W,11.26 percentage points,5.3 percentage points,and 7.26 percentage points,respectively.The results show that this SBC method can achieve a high efficiency and linearly polarized laser output of SBC,thereby making the subsequent polarization beam-combining efficiency approach the limit.

A self-seeded fiber laser incorporated with a fiber Bragg grating external cavity semiconductor laser

A self-seeded fiber laser incorporated with a fiber Bragg grating external cavity semiconductor laser (FBG-ECL) and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) were reported in this paper. The MZI provided a Q-switching with response time in the order of micro-seconds. The FBG-ECL provided narrow pulses as seeds to shorten the Q-switched pulses. Experimentally, pulse width of 0.8 μs was measured, which was one fifth of the pulse width without self-seeding.

High-power narrow-linewidth diode laser pump source based on high-efficiency external cavity feedback technology

In this research,the highly efficient external cavity feedback technology based on volume Bragg grating(VBG)is studied.By using the structure of a fast axis collimating lens,the beam transformation system,a slow axis collimating lens,and VBG,the divergence angle of the fast and slow axes of the diode laser incident on the VBG is reduced effectively,and the feedback efficiency of the external cavity is improved.Combined with beam combining technology,fiber coupling technology,and precision temperature control technology,a high-power and narrow-linewidth diode laser pump source of kilowatt class is realized for alkali metal vapor laser pumping.The core diameter of the optical fiber is 1000μm,the numerical aperture is 0.22,the output power from the fiber is 1013 W,the fiber coupling efficiency exceeds 89%,and the external cavity efficiency exceeds 91%.The central wavelength is 852.052 nm(in air),which is tunable from 851.956 nm to 852.152 nm,and the spectral linewidth is 0.167 nm.Research results can be used for cesium alkali metal vapor laser pumping.

Compact external cavity diode laser for quantum experiments

We present a compact and practical scheme of building a ~780 nm external cavity diode laser(ECDL) whose wavelength is mainly determined by an interference filter. The Lorentzian linewidth measured by the heterodyne beating between two identical lasers is 60 k Hz, and the geometry size of the laser is only 71.5 mm×65 mm×40 mm. The linear cavity design is less sensitive to misalignment induced by mechanical and thermal disturbances, and in comparison to a common grating-based design, the sensitivity to vibration is substantially reduced. Due to its excellent performance, the laser design has already been applied to cold atom trapping experiments. This interference filter ECDL method can also be extended to other wavelengths and widen the application range of diode laser.

Variation of Lasing Wavelength of Fiber Grating Semiconductor Laser with Temperature for Different External Cavity Lengths

For different external cavity lengths, lasing wavelength variation of fiber grating external cavity semiconductor laser (FGECSL) with ambient temperature has been investigated theoretically, and the theoretical results are in agreement with reported experimental observations.

Noise Effects in the Mode-Locked External Cavity Lasers

Effect of high level of spontaneous and carrier noise on mode-locked hybrid soliton pulse source and relative intensity noise is described. Transform limited pulses are not generated over a wide frequency range because of these noises.

A mode-locked external-cavity quantum-dot laser with a variable repetition rate

A mode-locked external-cavity laser emitting at 1.17-μm wavelength using an InAs/GaAs quantum-dot gain medium and a discrete semiconductor saturable absorber mirror is demonstrated. By changing the external-cavity length, repetition rates of 854, 912, and 969 MHz are achieved respectively. The narrowest -3-dB radio-frequency linewidth obtained is 38 kHz, indicating that the laser is under stable mode-locking operation.

Broadband and high-speed swept external-cavity laser using a quantum-dot superluminescent diode as gain device

A wide wavelength tuning range swept external-cavity laser using an In As/Ga As quantum-dot superluminescent diode as a gain device is demonstrated. The tunable filter consists of a polygon scanner and a grating in Littrow telescope-less configuration. The swept laser generates greater than 54-m W peak output power and up to 33-k Hz sweep rate with a sweep range of 150 nm centered at 1155 nm. The effects of injection current and sweep rate on the sweep performance of the swept laser are studied.

Broad gain,continuous-wave operation of InP-based quantum cascade laser atλ~11.8μm

We demonstrate a broad gain,continuous-wave(CW)operation InP-based quantum cascade laser(QCL)emitting at 11.8μm with a modified dual-upper-state(DAU)and diagonal transition active region design.A 3 mm cavity length,16.5μm average ridge wide QCL with high-reflection(HR)coatings demonstrates a maximum peak power of 1.07 W at 283 K and CW output power of 60 m W at 293 K.The device also shows a broad and dual-frequency lasing spectrum in pulsed mode and a maximum average power of 258.6 mW at 283 K.Moreover,the full width at half maximum(FWHM)of the electroluminescent spectrum measured at subthreshold current is 2.37μm,which indicates a broad gain spectrum of the materials.The tuning range of 1.38μm is obtained by a grating-coupled external cavity(EC)Littrow configuration,which is beneficial for gas detection.

Tunable characteristic of phase-locked quantum cascade laser arrays

A multimode interference(MMI)structure is designed to simplify the fabrication of quantum cascade laser(QCL)phase-locked arrays.The MMI geometry is optimized with a sufficient output channel distance to accommodate conventional photolithography and wet etching process by which power amplifier array is fabricated without using the complicated two-step etching-regrowth or dry etching technique.The far-field pattern with periodically modulated peaks reveals that the beams from the arrays are phase-locked.Furthermore,the frequency tuning performance of the MMI-based phase-locked arrays is studied using the Littrow-configuration external cavity structure.A wavelength tuning range of more than 60 cm^(−1) is demonstrated,which will eventually realize the high power,frequency tunable,large-scale phase-locked arrays,and their application in spectroscopy.