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US 2015/0092800 A1Published application
Mopa laser source with wavelength control
AssigneeJDS Uniphase Corporation
InventorsErik Paul Zucker, Victor Rossin, Pierre Doussiere
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides a wavelength-controlled pump MOPA laser and a method of operation thereof. A monolithic semiconductor MOPA laser chip has a DFB-laser based MO (master oscillator) and PA (power amplifier) sections formed in a same monolithic waveguide, and separate MO and PA electrodes for individual control of current injection into the MO and PA sections. The laser wavelength is defined by the DFB grating and is kept fixed by suitably controlling the MO current to compensate for a thermal crosstalk from the PA section, or tuned by suitably changing the MO current or direct heating of the DFB region.
Claims19
A master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) device, comprising:
- a monolithic MOPA chip comprising a semiconductor substrate and at least one MOPA structure formed upon the substrate, the at least one MOPA structure comprising:
- a master oscillator (MO) section comprising a single spatial mode DFB laser structure for generating laser light, the single spatial mode DFB laser structure comprising a Bragg grating for providing a distributed optical feedback therein and for defining a laser wavelength, the MO section comprising a first electrical contact;
- and
- a power amplifier (PA) section comprising a semiconductor amplifier structure optically following the single spatial mode DFB laser structure and integrally coupled thereto for amplifying the laser light and for providing output light in a single spatial mode, the PA section comprising a second electrical contact,
- wherein the first and second electrical contacts are electrically separate from each other for separately pumping the MO and PA sections of the MOPA device with first and second electrical currents;
- and
- a MOPA driver electrically connected to the first and second electrical contacts for driving the first electrical current through the MO section and the second electrical current through the PA section to initiate lasing in the MO section at the laser wavelength while providing optical amplification in the PA section,
- wherein the MOPA driver comprises a controller that is configured to vary the first electrical current in dependence upon the second electrical current so that when the second electrical current through the PA section is increased for increasing the optical power of the output light, the first electrical current through the MO section is decreased so at to maintain the laser wavelength constant.
5 more elements
(canceled)
A method of controlling the wavelength of a monolithic master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) device, the method comprising:
- providing a MOPA device comprising a DFB laser master oscillator (MO) section optically coupled to a single-spatial-mode power amplifier (PA) section and having separate electrical contacts in MO and PA sections enabling separate control of electrical current injection into the MO and PA sections of the MOPA device, wherein the MO and PA sections are in thermal contact with each other;
- providing a first electrical current through the MO electrical contact to generate light in the MO section at a laser wavelength;
- providing a second electrical current through the PA electrical contact for amplifying the light passing through the PA section;
- and,
- varying the first and second electrical currents in opposite directions so that when the second current through the PA section is increased for increasing the output optical power, the first electrical current through the MO section is decreased for compensating the effect of the increased second current on a temperature in a DFB region of the MO section, so as to maintain the laser wavelength constant while the output optical power is varied.
2 more elements
(canceled)
A method of controlling the wavelength of a monolithic master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) device, the method comprising:
- providing a MOPA device comprising a DFB laser master oscillator (MO) section optically coupled to a single-spatial-mode power amplifier (PA) section and having separate electrical contacts in MO and PA sections enabling separate control of electrical current injection into the MO and PA sections of the MOPA device, wherein the MO and PA sections are in thermal contact with each other;
- providing a first electrical current through the MO electrical contact to generate light in the MO section at a laser wavelength;
- providing a second electrical current through the PA electrical contact for amplifying the light passing through the PA section;
- and,
- varying the first and second electrical currents so that when the first electrical current is changed for changing the wavelength of the output light, the second electrical current through the PA section is changed so at to maintain constant the output optical power.
2 more elements
A method of controlling the wavelength of a monolithic master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) device, the method comprising:
- providing a MOPA device comprising a DFB laser master oscillator (MO) section optically coupled to a single-spatial-mode power amplifier (PA) section and having separate electrical contacts in MO and PA sections enabling separate control of electrical current injection into the MO and PA sections of the MOPA device, wherein the MO and PA sections are in thermal contact with each other
- providing a first electrical current through the MO electrical contact to generate light in the MO section at a laser wavelength;
- providing a second electrical current through the PA electrical contact for amplifying the light passing through the PA section;
- varying one of the first and second electrical currents in dependence upon the other of the first and second electrical currents so as to maintain constant one of an output optical power of the PA section and the laser wavelength when the other of the output optical power and the laser wavelength is varied;
- providing a controller electrically connected to the MO and PA sections of the MOPA device for controlling the first and second electrical currents, the controller comprising a computer-readable memory storing a look-up table containing values of the first and second electrical currents for a plurality of laser wavelength values and one or more output power values;
- and
- responsive to a wavelength request signal, adjusting the first and second electrical currents to tune the laser wavelength to a requested wavelength value using the look-up table.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.