Hybrid External Cavity Lasers Composed of Spot-Size Converter Integrated LDs and UV Written Bragg Gratings in a Planar Lightwave Circuit on Si

Takuya TANAKA
Hiroshi TAKAHASHI
Yoshinori HIBINO
Toshikazu HASHIMOTO
Akira HIMENO
Yasufumi YAMADA
Yuichi TOHMORI

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E83-C    No.6    pp.875-883
Publication Date: 2000/06/25
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Issue on Advanced Optical Devices for Next Generation High-Speed Communication Systems and Photonic Networks)
Category: WDM Network Devices
Keyword: 
external cavity laser,  hybrid integration,  grating,  multiwavelength laser,  PLC,  

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Summary: 
We describe the fabrication method and characteristics of hybrid external cavity lasers composed of a spot-size converter integrated LD (SS-LD) and a UV written Bragg grating in a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) on a Si substrate. The SS-LD is passively aligned on a Si platform formed in the PLC, and the UV grating is created in the PLC with ArF laser irradiation through a phase mask. This structure enables us to fabricate a stable single-mode laser with a precisely controllable oscillation wavelength. By using the above techniques, we obtained a threshold current of 7-8 mA and a side mode suppression of 37 dB for an external cavity laser operating at 1.3 µm. Moreover, we successfully demonstrated a four-channel external cavity laser with a wavelength interval of 2 nm 0.1 nm by integrating 4 SS-LDs on a PLC and controlling the Bragg wavelengths with ArF laser irradiation without a phase mask.