Low-cost PCB-integrated polymer waveguide sensor for gas detection

An optical waveguide sensor formed directly on low-cost PCB substrates is presented for the first time. The device integrates polymer waveguides functionalized with chemical dyes, photonic and electronic components and allows multiple-gas detection. © 2011 OSA.

Ultrafast all-optical wavelength conversion using an integrated amplifier/DFB laser

Wavelength conversion in the 1550 nm regime was achieved in an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)/DFB laser by modulating the output power of the laser with a light beam of a different wavelength externally injected into the SOA section. A 12 dB output extinction ratio was obtained for an average coupled input power of 75 μW with the laser section driven at 65 mA and the amplifier section at 180 mA. The response time achieved was as low as 13 ps with the laser biased at 175 mA even with low extinction ratios. The laser exhibits a similar recovery time allowing potentially very high bit-rate operation.

Demonstration of 2.488Gb/s simultaneous all-optical wavelength conversion and tone reading/replacing in an integrated-SOA/DFB laser

A technique is demonstrated that allows for the wavelength conversion of data with both simultaneous monitoring and replacing of a wavelength identifying pilot tone. The technique should be upgradable to data rates of 10Gb/s and higher.

Demonstration of multi wavelength picosecond pulse generation with resonant RF drive using an monolithically integrated multi-grating cavity (MGC) laser

Multiwavelength pulses were generated using a monolithically integrated device. The device used is an integrated InGaAs/InGaAsP/InP multi-wavelength laser fabricated by selective area regrowth. The device self pulsated on all of the four wavelength channels. 48 ps pulses were obtained which were measured by a 50GHz oscilloscope and 32GHz photodiode which was not bandwidth limited. Simultaneous multi-wavelength pulse generation was also achieved.

Fabrication of test structures for 4×4 InP/InGaAsP integrated optical matrix

A novel optical switching matrix measuring 1×2 mm2 in size is fabricated. The switching matrix is composed of waveguides, four 1×4 multimode interference (MMI) splitters, 32 total internal refraction mirrors and four 4×1 MMI combiners with the extremely compact size of 1×2 mm2. This integrated device are assessed and loss contribution measured from test structure is presented.

Three band-gap QW intermixing in InP/InGaAs/InGaAsP system for monolithically integrated optical switch

Quantum well intermixing is a key technique for photonic integration. The intermixing of InP/InGaAs/InGaAsP material involving the deposition of a layer of sputtered SiO2 on the semiconductor surface, followed by thermal annealing has allowed good control of the intermixing process and has been used to fabricate extended cavity lasers. This will be used for optimization of the performance of optical switches consisting of passive components, modulators and amplifiers.

Wavelength conversion, regeneration and tone manipulation using integrated semiconductor lasers and amplifiers

An integrated semiconductor optical amplifier/distributed feedback (SOA/DFB) laser that show promise as a simple all-optical wavelength conversion device together with useful simultaneous functions such as 2R regeneration and the ability to remove a wavelength identifying tone is presented. Wavelength conversion performance at 20Gb/s and 40Gb/s can be obtained with this laser.

High power laser with integrated lens using focused ion beam etching

In this study, a collimating lens is introduced at the output facet of a tapered waveguide laser to compensate for the divergence of the optical mode. The collimating lens is shown to enhance the laser efficiency while simultaneously reducing the far field divergence.

Ultrafast and widely tuneable vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser, mode-locked by a graphene-integrated distributed Bragg reflector

We report a versatile and cost-effective way of controlling the unsaturated loss, modulation depth and saturation fluence of graphene-based saturable absorbers (GSAs), by changing the thickness of a spacer between SLG and a high-reflection mirror. This allows us to modulate the electric field intensity enhancement at the GSA from 0 up to 400%, due to the interference of incident and reflected light at the mirror. The unsaturated loss of the SLG-mirror-assembly can be reduced to$\sim$0. We use this to mode-lock a VECSEL from 935 to 981nm. This approach can be applied to integrate SLG into various optical components, such as output coupler mirrors, dispersive mirrors, dielectric coatings on gain materials. Conversely, it can also be used to increase absorption (up to 10%) in various graphene based photonics and optoelectronics devices, such as photodetectors.

Plasmonic nanofocusing of light in an integrated silicon photonics platform.

The capability to focus electromagnetic energy at the nanoscale plays an important role in nanoscinece and nanotechnology. It allows enhancing light matter interactions at the nanoscale with applications related to nonlinear optics, light emission and light detection. It may also be used for enhancing resolution in microscopy, lithography and optical storage systems. Hereby we propose and experimentally demonstrate the nanoscale focusing of surface plasmons by constructing an integrated plasmonic/photonic on chip nanofocusing device in silicon platform. The device was tested directly by measuring the optical intensity along it using a near-field microscope. We found an order of magnitude enhancement of the intensity at the tip's apex. The spot size is estimated to be 50 nm. The demonstrated device may be used as a building block for "lab on a chip" systems and for enhancing light matter interactions at the apex of the tip.

Low-cost PCB-integrated polymer waveguide sensor for gas detection

An optical waveguide sensor formed directly on low-cost PCB substrates is presented for the first time. The device integrates polymer waveguides functionalized with chemical dyes, photonic and electronic components and allows multiple-gas detection. © OSA/CLEO 2011.

Bismuth-doped fiber integrated ring laser mode-locked with a nanotube-based saturable absorber

We demonstrate passive mode-locking of a bismuth-doped fiber laser using a single-wall nanotube-based saturable absorber. Stable operation in the all-normal dispersion and average soliton regime is obtained, with an all-fiber integrated format. © 2010 Optical Society of America.

Modular hybrid dilated Mach-Zehnder switch with integrated SOAs for large port count switches

A modular dilated MZI based optical switch with integrated SOAs is demonstrated with excellent -40dB crosstalk/extinction ratio, 3ns switching time and nearly penalty-free operation. Studies show an 8×8 switch with 14dB IPDR for 0.5dB penalty. © 2014 OSA.

Noise suppression in a novel monolithically integrated michelson interferometer

A novel monolithically integrated Michelson Interferometer using intersecting twincontact semiconductor optical amplifiers is proposed whereby the two arms are gain imbalanced to give noise suppression. Experimental OSNR improvements of 6.2dB for 8ps pulses is demonstrated. © 2005 Optical Society of America.