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US 10,320,152 B2Granted
Tunable laser
AssigneeFreedom Photonics LLC
InventorGordon Barbour Morrison
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tunable wavelength laser comprising a laser cavity formed by a broadband mirror and a comb mirror. The laser cavity comprising a gain region. The laser cavity is configured such that a non-integer number of cavity modes of the laser cavity are between two consecutive reflection peaks of the comb mirror.
Claims15
A wavelength tunable laser comprising:
- a gain region comprising a gain medium;
- a comb mirror disposed at one side of the gain region, the comb mirror having a plurality of reflection peaks;
- a broadband mirror disposed at another side of the gain region, a laser cavity formed by the comb mirror and the broadband mirror having a plurality of cavity modes;
- and
- a phase section configured to introduce a change in optical path of an optical signal in the laser cavity, wherein the phase section is configured to be electrically or thermally controlled such that at least one of the plurality of reflection peaks overlaps with one of the plurality of cavity modes,
- wherein the comb mirror is configured to be electrically or thermally controlled such that at least one of the plurality of reflection peaks overlaps with one of the plurality of cavity modes,
- wherein the comb mirror comprises one or more regions comprising gain medium, and
- wherein the one or more regions comprising gain medium are separate from the gain region.
5 more elements
A wavelength tunable laser comprising:
- a crystalline substrate;
- a waveguide on the crystalline substrate;
- a comb mirror at one end of the waveguide, the comb mirror comprising a plurality of reflective regions, the comb mirror having a plurality of reflection peaks in a wavelength range;
- a broadband reflector at another end of the waveguide, the broadband reflector having substantially uniform reflectivity for wavelengths in the wavelength range;
- and
- a gain region in a cavity formed by the comb mirror and the broadband reflector, the gain region comprising a gain medium, the gain region having a gain peak in the wavelength range, the gain peak having:
- a maximum gain;
- and
- a gain bandwidth equal to a width of the gain peak at 50% of the maximum gain;
- wherein the cavity formed by the comb mirror and the broadband reflector has a plurality of cavity modes, and
- wherein a length of the cavity is configured such that a non-integer number of cavity modes are present in a free spectral range of the comb mirror, wherein the free spectral range of the comb mirror is between 0.05 nm and 50 nm, and
- wherein the comb mirror is configured to be electrically or thermally controlled such that at least one of the plurality of reflection peaks overlaps with one of the plurality of cavity modes to output a laser signal having a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) between about 10 dB and about 150 dB.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.