Wideband External Cavity Wavelength-Tunable Laser Utilizing a Liquid-Crystal-Based Mirror and an Intracavity Etalon

Abstract

In this paper, high-performance full-band external cavity wavelength-tunable lasers (ECTLs) are detailed. Our approach utilizes an external cavity configuration, which makes use of a liquid-crystal tunable mirror and a wavelength reference etalon. This ECTL module shows a tuning range of 45 nm, fiber-coupled output power of more than 14 dBm with a side-mode suppression ratio better than 59 dB, wavelength accuracy of 0.6 GHz, relative intensity noise better than -150 dB/Hz, and linewidth narrower than 1 MHz.