Compact, lower-power-consumption wavelength tunable laser fabricated with silicon photonic-wire waveguide micro-ring resonators

TLDR

The authors demonstrate a wavelength‑tunable laser using an SOA and double micro‑ring resonator fabricated on silicon photonic‑wire waveguides. The device is ultra‑compact, with an external resonator footprint of 700 × 450 µm, about 1/25 of conventional SiON tunable lasers. This first silicon‑photonic tunable laser achieves a 38 nm tuning span across the C/L bands at only 26 mW, roughly one‑eighth the power of SiON resonators.

Abstract

A wavelength tunable laser with an SOA and external double micro-ring resonator, which is fabricated with silicon photonic-wire waveguides, is demonstrated. To date, it is the first wavelength tunable laser fabricated with silicon photonic technology. The device is ultra compact, and its external resonator footprint is 700 x 450 microm, which is about 1/25 that of conventional tunable lasers fabricated with SiON waveguides. The silicon resonator shows a wide tuning range covering the C or L bands for DWDM optical communication. We obtained a maximum tuning span of 38 nm at a tuning power consumption of 26 mW, which is about 1/8 that of SiON-type resonators.