Etched cavity InGaAsP-InP waveguide Fabry-Perot filter tunable by current injection

Author

Tsang, H.K. ; Mak, Mark W K ; Chan, L.Y. ; Soole, J.B.D. ; Youtsey, C. ; Adesida, I.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

Volume

17

Issue

10

fYear

1999

fDate

10/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1890

Lastpage

1895

Abstract

A short cavity Fabry-Perot (FP) tunable filter was fabricated by chemically assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) of an InGaAsP-InP waveguide. The FP cavity mirrors were formed by high reflectivity dielectric coatings deposited onto the two etched facets of the cavity. High-speed (less than 3 ns) wavelength-tuning of the filter was achieved by current injection. A super-linear dependence on current injection was observed in the wavelength tuning. The filter was tunable over a continuous range of 4 nm by up to 50 mA current injection. The device had a free-spectral range of 9 nm and gave a contrast ratio of about 10 dB. A theoretical simulation of the filter was developed using a beam propagation method calculation to estimate the reflection efficiency at different mirror tilt angles. The calculated contrast ratio of the filter was in good agreement with the measured result. The calculations showed that 20 dB contrast ratio should be possible by having a facet reflectivity of over 90% and ensuring that the etched facets are off-vertical by less than 1.8

Keywords

Fabry-Perot resonators; III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; indium compounds; mirrors; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical tuning; optical waveguide filters; reflectivity; sputter etching; 3 ns; 50 mA; CAIBE; FP cavity mirrors; InGaAsP-InP; InGaAsP-InP waveguide; beam propagation method calculation; chemically assisted ion beam etching; contrast ratio; current injection; etched cavity InGaAsP-InP waveguide Fabry-Perot tunable filter; etched facets; facet reflectivity; free-spectral range; high reflectivity dielectric coatings; high-speed wavelength-tuning; mirror tilt angles; off-vertical; short cavity Fabry-Perot tunable filter fabrication; super-linear dependence; Chemicals; Coatings; Dielectrics; Etching; Fabry-Perot; Filters; Ion beams; Mirrors; Optical reflection; Reflectivity;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.793772

Filename

793772