CW injection locking of a mode-locked semiconductor laser as a local oscillator comb for channelizing broad-band RF signals

Abstract

CW injection locking of mode-locked semiconductor lasers has been experimentally demonstrated. The phases of the mode-locked frequency comb are shown to be coherent with that of the master CW laser. The pulsewidth of the mode-locked laser remains almost unchanged (<2 ps) for a broad range of injection power (-28 to -12 dBm). Pulling of the entire mode-locked frequency comb by 400 MHz has been demonstrated. The coherent multifrequency source can be used as a local oscillator comb for coherent optical channelizers for ultrawide-band RF signals.