Mode-locked laser arrays for WDM applications

Author

Davis, L. ; Young, M.G. ; Forouhar, S.

Author_Institution

Center for Space Microelectronics Technol., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

11-13 Aug. 1997

Firstpage

68

Lastpage

69

Abstract

High bandwidth mode-locked laser arrays are being developed for a bit-parallel wavelength (BPW) link for high performance computer networks. The system design requires a 10 element WDM transmitter with an aggregate bandwidth in the 100-800 Gb/s range. The devices employ a colliding pulse mode-locked (CPM) cavity consisting of a 5 section, 3 contact symmetric cavity: a saturable absorber at the center of the cavity, 2 gain sections and 2 grating sections. The devices can operate as passively mode-locked lasers; however, in order to reduce the noise in the mode-locked laser and to synchronize the signals from all the lasers in the array, the contact to the saturable absorber section is designed for a G-S-G probe for application of a synchronizing RF signal.

Keywords

laser cavity resonators; laser mode locking; laser noise; multiplexing equipment; optical fibre networks; optical saturable absorption; performance evaluation; semiconductor laser arrays; wavelength division multiplexing; 10 element WDM transmitter; 100 to 800 Gbit/s; G-S-G probe; WDM applications; aggregate bandwidth; bit-parallel wavelength link; colliding pulse mode-locked cavity; gain sections; grating sections; high bandwidth; high performance computer networks; mode-locked laser arrays; noise; saturable absorber; symmetric cavity; synchronizing RF signal; system design; Aggregates; Application software; Bandwidth; Computer networks; Gratings; Laser mode locking; Laser noise; Optical arrays; Transmitters; Wavelength division multiplexing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Vertical-Cavity Lasers, Technologies for a Global Information Infrastructure, WDM Components Technology, Advanced Semiconductor Lasers and Applications, Gallium Nitride Materials, Processing, and Devi

Conference_Location

Montreal, Que., Canada

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3891-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/LEOSST.1997.619180

Filename

619180