Pulsed sources based on approaches that employ only photonic components and no RF components will be discussed in this talk. Several technologies have been explored to generate actively mode-locked sources using electronically driven fiber ring cavities. However, for these sources the pulse repetition rate is usually limited by the bandwidth of the intracavity modulator. Filtering of highly-stable low repetition rate optical combs utilizing cavities such as Fabry-Perot etalons can be used to overcome this limitation. This scheme is not flexible as it requires highly precise control of ultrahigh finesse etalons which limits the repetition rate to the free spectral range of the filter. Pulsed sources based on semiconductor devices offer many advantages, including large gain bandwidth, rapid tunability, long-term stability. In this work we introduce a novel, simple method to generate optical clock with wavelength tunability using two continuous wave (CW) lasers. The lasers are injected into a conventional SOAs-based fiber ring laser. The beating signal generated by these two lasers causes the modulation of the SOA gain saturation inside the cavity. Thus, the SOA provides gain and functions as the modulator as well as the gain medium. When the lasing mode inside the cavity is amplified, it also results in gain-induced four wave mixing. The proposed technique is particularly versatile, overcoming the bandwidth limitation of other techniques, which require RF sources. Moreover, this technique provides the possibility for hybrid integration as it is comprised of semiconductor chips that can be heterogeneously integrated on a Si platform.

Date Published: 8 March 2014
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 8988, Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XVIII, 89880A (8 March 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2042612

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8988:
Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XVIII
Jean Emmanuel Broquin; Gualtiero Nunzi Conti, Editor(s)