Directly modulated optical negative feedback lasers for long-range FMCW LiDAR.

Frequency sweep operation of directly modulated optical negative feedback lasers is numerically and experimentally investigated for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), particularly over a long range. Low FM noise corresponding to a spectral linewidth of ∼2.0 kHz is sustained even with injection current modulation of an optical negative feedback laser through optical feedback from a Fabry-Perot etalon, and a beat note spectrum with a 30-dB SNR is achieved even when a 300-m delay fiber is used as a ranging sample. These results encourage an approach to provide directly modulated frequency-swept lasers for long-range FMCW LiDAR.

Spin Laser Local Oscillators for Homodyne Detection in Coherent Optical Communications.

We numerically investigate spin-controlled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (spin-VCSELs) for local oscillators, which are based on an injection locking technique used in coherent optical communications. Under the spin polarization modulation of an injection-locked spin-VCSEL, frequency-shifted and phase-correlated optical sidebands are generated with an orthogonal polarization against the injection light, and one of the sidebands is resonantly enhanced due to the linear birefringence in the spin-VCSEL. We determine that the peak strength and peak frequency in the spin polarization modulation sensitivity of the injection-locked spin-VCSEL depend on detuning frequency and injection ratio conditions. As a proof of concept, 25-Gbaud and 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation optical data signals and a pilot tone are generated, and the pilot tone is used for the injection locking of a spin-VCSEL. An orthogonally-polarized modulation sideband generated from the injection-locked spin-VCSEL is used as a frequency-shifted local oscillator (LO). We verify that the frequency-shifted LO can be used for the homodyne detection of optical data signals with no degradation. Our findings suggest a novel application of spin-VCSELs for coherent optical communications.

Cascaded SSB comb generation using injection-locked seed lasers.

We investigate a novel concept of cascaded single side band (SSB) comb generation for improving the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR), which degrades when the bandwidth of the SSB comb becomes wider. Wavelength-multiplexed seed lasers are simultaneously modulated in a recirculating frequency shifter loop with an SSB modulator, an Er-doped fiber amplifier, and a fiber Bragg grating whose reflective notch filter nature enables seed lasers to be synchronized through the injection locking (IL). A maximum CNR improvement of 11.3 dB is experimentally demonstrated under the IL condition. The proposed technique effectively improves the CNR of wide-bandwidth SSB combs.

Strategy of optical negative feedback for narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers.

The coherent optical negative feedback scheme is systematically investigated by calculating rate equations that model a noise-added semiconductor laser coupled to a Fabry-Perot optical filter for the FM noise reduction. The calculated results indicate that the FM noise is minimized when a lasing frequency of the free-running laser matches a valley frequency of the filter (the point where power reflectivity becomes zero) under a specific feedback phase, where the slope of the electric field reflectivity for the lasing light and frequency discrimination efficiency to electric field amplitude of the feedback light becomes maximum. And the linewidth is also minimized at a lasing frequency corresponding to the valley frequency of the Fabry-Perot optical filter. It is also made clear that the laser frequency becomes less sensitive to the fluctuation of the injection current of the laser under optical negative feedback.

Optical Nyquist pulse generation by using a dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator.

We demonstrate a simple and efficient optical Nyquist pulse generation by using a dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) driven by a combination of fundamental and second-harmonic RF signals. The method is based on a raised-cosine-shaped time filter and time lens created in the MZM under operation conditions given by a simple equation. Optical Nyquist pulses with a roll-off factor of 0.52 and intrinsic conversion efficiency of 37% are experimentally confirmed. Numerical analyses indicate that the roll-off factor can be moderately controlled down to ∼0.3 by increasing relative strength of fundamental RF signals.

Frequency response control of semiconductor laser by using hybrid modulation scheme.

A hybrid modulation scheme that simultaneously applies the direct current modulation and intra-cavity loss modulation to a semiconductor laser is proposed. Both numerical calculations using rate equations and experiments using a fabricated laser show that the hybrid modulation scheme can control the frequency response of the laser by changing a modulation ratio and time delay between the two modulations. The modulation ratio and time delay provide the degree of signal mixing of the two modulations and an optimum condition is found when a non-flat frequency response for the intra-cavity loss modulation is compensated by that for the direct current modulation. We experimentally confirm a 8.64-dB improvement of the modulation sensitivity at 20 GHz compared with the pure direct current modulation with a 0.7-dB relaxation oscillation peak.

Harmonic superposition for tailored optical frequency comb generation by a Mach-Zehnder modulator.

This Letter demonstrates tailored optical frequency comb (OFC) generation using a LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder modulator driven by a combination of first- and second-order harmonics of the RF signal. A quasi-rectangular-shaped OFC with less than 1 dB flatness among 11 lines was experimentally obtained when a slight second-order harmonic of the RF signal (0.1 times the half-wavelength voltage) was introduced. Good agreement was obtained between the measured and calculation results for OFCs. We discuss conditions to obtain flat OFCs using this method along with details concerning OFC conversion efficiency and bandwidth.

1.55-µm VCSEL with polarization-independent HCG mirror on SOI.

We designed and fabricated a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) incorporating a polarization-independent high-index-contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) mirror on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) for a novel polarization-bistable device on a silicon substrate. The VCSEL consists of the HCG mirror, an active layer with InGaAsP quantum wells having optical gain around 1.55 µm, and an Al0.9Ga0.1As/Al0.16Ga0.84As DBR. We used direct wafer bonding for the bonding between the active layer and the AlGaAs DBR, and benzocyclobutene (BCB) bonding for the bonding between the active layer and the polarization-independent HCG mirror. The reflectivity of the HCG embedded with BCB was measured, resulting in a 200-nm-high reflectivity band with reflectivity higher than 99% and a small polarization dependence of ± 1%. We achieved lasing of the fabricated HCG-VCSEL at 1527 nm under an optical short pulse excitation with an average power of 50 mW (~0.2 mJ/cm2) at 240 K.