Optoelectronic device incorporating a tunable laser and method of characterization thereof
AssigneeTsunami Photonics Limited
InventorRonan O'Dowd
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Abstract
A hybridized optoelectronic device having a multi-section laser and a wavelength measuring component such that stable operational characteristics remote from mode boundaries may be determined and stored in a look-up table. A fast means of characterizing the device using sampling techniques is also disclosed. The device may incorporate a frequency-locking component to enable the laser to emit radiation at predetermined frequencies.
Claims14
A method of characterising a hybrid optoelectronic device comprising a tunable multi-section laser (1100), having front, gain, phase and back sections;
- hybridised with an optical filter (1110) for transmitting a proportion of power of an incident light beam emitted by the laser, the proportion being substantially linearly and monotonically dependent on the wavelength of the incident light beam, the method including the steps of:
- a) applying constant currents to the gain and phase sections such that the laser emits laser radiation;
- b) applying back and front currents in step-wise increments to the back and front sections respectively;
- c) measuring power output by the laser to determine values of front and back currents for which the laser emits radiation at wavelengths remote from mode boundaries of the laser;
- d) measuring the proportion of power transmitted by the filter to measure the wavelength of the emitted radiation;
- and e) storing in a look-up table the values of front and back current for which the laser emits radiation at wavelengths remote from mode boundaries and the corresponding wavelengths of the radiation.
A method of characterising a tunable multi-section laser (1100), having front, gain, phase and back sections;
- the laser being connected to an optical fiber filter (1110) for transmitting a proportion of power of an incident light beam emitted by the laser, the proportion being dependant on the wavelength of the incident light beam, the method including the steps of:
- a) applying constant currents to the gain and phase sections such that the laser emits laser radiation;
- b) holding a front current applied to the front section at a first front constant (111) and stepping a back current applied to the back section, c) holding the front current at a second front constant (152) and stepping the back current, d) holding the back current at a first back constant (153) and stepping the front current, e) holding the back current at a second back constant (154) and stepping the front current, and f) stepwise increasing the front current from a third front constant (151) to a fourth front constant (152) while stepwise decreasing the back current from a third back constant (154) to a fourth back constant (153) in order to determine stable middle lines (143) within each super-mode, g) measuring power output by the laser to determine values of front and back currents for which the laser emits radiation at wavelengths remote from mode boundaries of the laser;
- h) measuring the proportion of power transmitted by the fiber filter to measure the wavelength of the emitted radiation;
- and i) storing in a look-up table the values of front and back current for which the laser emits radiation at wavelengths remote from mode boundaries and the corresponding wavelengths of the radiation.”
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.