Surface-normal saturable absorber intensity modulator

Author

Vainionpää, A. ; Guina, M. ; Härkönen, A. ; Orsila, L. ; Lyytikäinen, J. ; Pessa, M. ; Okhotnikov, O.G.

Author_Institution

Optoelectronics Res. Centre, Tampere Univ. of Technol., Finland

fYear

2003

fDate

12-16 May 2003

Firstpage

351

Lastpage

354

Abstract

We present a surface-normal semiconductor intensity modulator based on optically pumped saturable absorber mirror. The modulation section consists of quantum wells placed within a Fabry-Perot cavity. A laser integrated monolithically within the modulator structure generates the control beam used to pump the absorber. Since the modulation section and the in-plane laser share the same medium, an efficient coupling between the control beam and the signal beam is achieved. The modulator provides an efficient light modulation mechanism that is sufficient to actively mode-lock an Er-doped fiber laser.

Keywords

Fabry-Perot resonators; fibre lasers; integrated optics; intensity modulation; laser mirrors; laser mode locking; optical modulation; optical pumping; optical saturable absorption; quantum well devices; semiconductor quantum wells; Er-doped fiber laser; Fabry-Perot cavity; InGaAsP; InGaAsP quantum-wells; active mode-locking; control beam; efficient coupling; efficient light modulation mechanism; in-plane laser; modulation section; monolithically integrated laser; optically pumped saturable absorber mirror; quantum wells; semiconductor intensity modulator; signal beam; surface-normal saturable absorber intensity modulator; Intensity modulation; Laser beams; Laser excitation; Mirrors; Optical control; Optical modulation; Optical pumping; Pump lasers; Quantum well lasers; Semiconductor lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Indium Phosphide and Related Materials, 2003. International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7704-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICIPRM.2003.1205387

Filename

1205387