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Integrated modelocked lasers with high power are of utmost importance for next generation optical systems that can be field-deployable and mass produced. Here we study fully integrated modelocked laser designs that have the potential to generate ultrashort, high power, and high quality pulses. We explore a large mode area laser for high power pulse generation and study the various mode-locking regimes of dispersion managed soliton pulses in net anomalous and net normal dispersion cavities. Furthermore, we study numerically and experimentally general properties and tunability of a fast integrated saturable absorber based on low loss silicon nitride nonlinear interferometer. We believe this work guides the exploration of the future for integrated high power modelocked lasers.

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Optical frequency synthesizers have widespread applications in optical spectroscopy, frequency metrology, and many other fields. However, their applicability is currently limited by size, cost, and power consumption. Silicon photonics technology, which is compatible with complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor fabrication processes, provides a low-cost, compact size, lightweight, and low-power-consumption solution. In this work, we demonstrate an optical frequency synthesizer using a fully integrated silicon-based tunable laser. The synthesizer can be self-calibrated by tuning the repetition rate of the internal mode-locked laser. A 20 nm tuning range from 1544 to 1564 nm is achieved with ~10-13 frequency instability at 10 s averaging time. Its flexibility and fast reconfigurability are also demonstrated by fine tuning the synthesizer and generating arbitrary specified patterns over time-frequency coordinates. This work promotes the frequency stability of silicon-based integrated tunable lasers and paves the way toward chip-scale low-cost optical frequency synthesizers.

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Ability to selectively enhance the amplitude and maintain high coherence of the supercontinuum signal with long pulses is gaining significance. In this work, an extra degree of freedom afforded by varying the dispersion profile of a waveguide is utilized to selectively enhance supercontinuum. As much as 16 dB signal enhancement in the telecom window and 100 nm of wavelength extension is achieved with a cascaded waveguide, compared to a fixed dispersion waveguide. Waveguide tapering, in particular with increasing width, is determined to have a flatter and more coherent supercontinuum than a fixed dispersion waveguide when longer input pulses are used. Furthermore, due to the strong birefringence of an asymmetric silicon waveguide the supercontinuum signal is broadened by pumping simultaneously with both quasi-transverse electric (TE) and quasi-transverse magnetic (TM) mode in the anomalous dispersion regime. Thus, selective signal generation is obtained by controlling the dispersion for the two modes. Such waveguides offer several advantages over optical fiber as the variation in dispersion can be controlled with greater flexibility in an integrated platform. This work paves the way forward for various applications in fields ranging from medicine to telecom where specific wavelength windows need to be targeted.

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We present a CMOS-compatible, Q-switched mode-locked integrated laser operating at 1.9 µm with a compact footprint of 23.6 × 0.6 × 0.78mm. The Q-switching rate is 720 kHz, the mode-locking rate is 1.2 GHz, and the optical bandwidth is 17nm, which is sufficient to support pulses as short as 215 fs. The laser is fabricated using a silicon nitride on silicon dioxide 300-mm wafer platform, with thulium-doped Al2O3 glass as a gain material deposited over the silicon photonics chip. An integrated Kerr-nonlinearity-based artificial saturable absorber is implemented in silicon nitride. A broadband (over 100 nm) dispersion-compensating grating in silicon nitride provides sufficient anomalous dispersion to compensate for the normal dispersion of the other laser components, enabling femtosecond-level pulses. The laser has no off-chip components with the exception of the optical pump, allowing for easy co-integration of numerous other photonic devices such as supercontinuum generation and frequency doublers which together potentially enable fully on-chip frequency comb generation.

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Many optical systems require broadband filters with sharp roll-offs for efficiently splitting or combining light across wide spectra. While free space dichroic filters can provide broadband selectivity, on-chip integration of these high-performance filters is crucial for the scalability of photonic applications in multi-octave interferometry, spectroscopy, and wideband wavelength-division multiplexing. Here we present the theory, design, and experimental characterization of integrated, transmissive, 1 × 2 port dichroic filters using spectrally selective waveguides. Mode evolution through adiabatic transitions in the demonstrated filters allows for single cutoff and flat-top responses with low insertion losses and octave-wide simulated bandwidths. Filters with cutoffs around 1550 and 2100 nm are fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator platform with standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor processes. A filter roll-off of 2.82 dB nm-1 is achieved while maintaining ultra-broadband operation. This new class of nanophotonic dichroic filters can lead to new paradigms in on-chip communications, sensing, imaging, optical synthesis, and display applications.

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Efficient complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-based nonlinear optical devices in the near-infrared are in strong demand. Due to two-photon absorption in silicon, however, much nonlinear research is shifting towards unconventional photonics platforms. In this work, we demonstrate the generation of an octave-spanning coherent supercontinuum in a silicon waveguide covering the spectral region from the near- to shortwave-infrared. With input pulses of 18 pJ in energy, the generated signal spans the wavelength range from the edge of the silicon transmission window, approximately 1.06 to beyond 2.4 µm, with a -20 dB bandwidth covering 1.124-2.4 µm. An octave-spanning supercontinuum was also observed at the energy levels as low as 4 pJ (-35 dB bandwidth). We also measured the coherence over an octave, obtaining , in good agreement with the simulations. In addition, we demonstrate optimization of the third-order dispersion of the waveguide to strengthen the dispersive wave and discuss the advantage of having a soliton at the long wavelength edge of an octave-spanning signal for nonlinear applications. This research paves the way for applications, such as chip-scale precision spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, optical frequency metrology, frequency synthesis and wide-band wavelength division multiplexing in the telecom window.

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An optically-pumped, integrated distributed feedback laser is demonstrated using a CMOS compatible process, where a record-low-temperature deposited gain medium enables integration with active devices such as modulators and detectors. A pump threshold of 24.9 mW and a slope efficiency of 1.3 % is demonstrated at the lasing wavelength of 1552.98 nm. The rare-earth-doped aluminum oxide, used as the gain medium in this laser, is deposited by a substrate-bias-assisted reactive sputtering process. This process yields optical quality films with 0.1 dB/cm background loss at the deposition temperature of 250 °C, and therefore is fully compatible as a back-end-of-line CMOS process. The aforementioned laser's performance is comparable to previous lasers having gain media fabricated at much higher temperatures (> 550 °C). This work marks a crucial step towards monolithic integration of amplifiers and lasers in silicon microphotonic systems.

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Mid-infrared laser sources are of great interest for various applications, including light detection and ranging, spectroscopy, communication, trace-gas detection, and medical sensing. Silicon photonics is a promising platform that enables these applications to be integrated on a single chip with low cost and compact size. Silicon-based high-power lasers have been demonstrated at 1.55 µm wavelength, while in the 2 µm region, to the best of our knowledge, high-power, high-efficiency, and monolithic light sources have been minimally investigated. In this Letter, we report on high-power CMOS-compatible thulium-doped distributed feedback and distributed Bragg reflector lasers with single-mode output powers up to 267 and 387 mW, and slope efficiencies of 14% and 23%, respectively. More than 70 dB side-mode suppression ratio is achieved for both lasers. This work extends the applicability of silicon photonic microsystems in the 2 µm region.

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A model for terahertz (THz) generation by optical rectification using tilted-pulse-fronts is developed. It simultaneously accounts for in two spatial dimensions (2-D) (i) the spatio-temporal variations of the optical pump pulse imparted by the tilted-pulse-front setup, (ii) the nonlinear coupled interaction of THz and optical radiation, (iii) self-phase modulation and (iv) stimulated Raman scattering. The model is validated by quantitative agreement with experiments and analytic calculations. We show that the optical pump beam is significantly broadened in the transverse-momentum (kx) domain as a consequence of its spectral broadening due to THz generation. In the presence of this large frequency and transverse-momentum (or angular) spread, group velocity dispersion causes a spatio-temporal break-up of the optical pump pulse which inhibits further THz generation. The implications of these effects on energy scaling and optimization of optical-to-THz conversion efficiency are discussed. This suggests the use of optical pump pulses with elliptical beam profiles for large optical pump energies. Furthermore, it is seen that optimization of the setup is highly dependent on optical pump conditions. Trade-offs in optimizing the optical-to-THz conversion efficiency on the spatial and spectral properties of THz radiation are discussed to guide the development of such sources.

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Third-harmonic generation (THG) has applications ranging from wavelength conversion to pulse characterization, and has important implications for quantum sources of entangled photons. However, on-chip THG devices are nearly unexplored because bulk techniques are difficult to adapt to integrated photonic circuits. Using sub-micrometer-wide polycrystalline anatase TiO2 waveguides, we demonstrate third-harmonic generation on a CMOS-compatible platform. We correlate higher conversion efficiencies with phase-matching between the fundamental pump mode and higher-order signal modes. Using scattered light, we estimate conversion efficiencies as high as 2.5% using femtosecond pulses, and thus demonstrate that multimode TiO2 waveguides are promising for wideband wavelength conversion and new applications ranging from sensors to triplet-photon sources.

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We observe spectral broadening of femtosecond pulses in single-mode anatase-titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) waveguides at telecommunication and near-visible wavelengths (1565 and 794 nm). By fitting our data to nonlinear pulse propagation simulations, we quantify nonlinear optical parameters around 1565 nm. Our fitting yields a nonlinear refractive index of 0.16 × 10(-18) m(2)/W, no two-photon absorption, and stimulated Raman scattering from the 144 cm(-1) Raman line of anatase with a gain coefficient of 6.6 × 10(-12) m/W. Additionally, we report on asymmetric spectral broadening around 794 nm. The wide wavelength applicability and negligible two-photon absorption of TiO(2) make it a promising material for integrated photonics.

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Results of a self-consistent ultrafast study of nonlinear optical properties of silicon nanowaveguides using heterodyne pump-probe technique are reported. The two-photon absorption coefficient and free-carrier absorption effective cross-section were determined to be 0.68cm/GW, and 1.9x10(-17) cm2, respectively and the Kerr coefficient and free-carrier-induced refractive index change 0.32x10(-13) cm2/W, and -5.5x10(-21) cm3, respectively. The effects of the proton bombardment on the linear loss and the carrier lifetime of the devices were also studied. Carrier lifetime reduction from 330ps to 33ps with a linear loss of only 14.8dB/cm was achieved using a proton bombardment level of 10(15)/cm2.

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Coherent pulse interleaving implemented in planar waveguide technology is presented as a compact and robust solution to generate high repetition rate frequency combs. We demonstrate a 10 GHz pulse train from an Er-doped femtosecond fiber laser that is coupled into waveguide interleavers and multiplied in repetition rate by a factor of 16. With thermal tuning of the chip elements, we achieve optical and RF sidemode suppression levels of at least -30 dB.

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Accurate conversion of wideband multi-GHz analog signals into the digital domain has long been a target of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) developers, driven by applications in radar systems, software radio, medical imaging, and communication systems. Aperture jitter has been a major bottleneck on the way towards higher speeds and better accuracy. Photonic ADCs, which perform sampling using ultra-stable optical pulse trains generated by mode-locked lasers, have been investigated for many years as a promising approach to overcome the jitter problem and bring ADC performance to new levels. This work demonstrates that the photonic approach can deliver on its promise by digitizing a 41 GHz signal with 7.0 effective bits using a photonic ADC built from discrete components. This accuracy corresponds to a timing jitter of 15 fs - a 4-5 times improvement over the performance of the best electronic ADCs which exist today. On the way towards an integrated photonic ADC, a silicon photonic chip with core photonic components was fabricated and used to digitize a 10 GHz signal with 3.5 effective bits. In these experiments, two wavelength channels were implemented, providing the overall sampling rate of 2.1 GSa/s. To show that photonic ADCs with larger channel counts are possible, a dual 20-channel silicon filter bank has been demonstrated.

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We report the fabrication of a reconfigurable wide-band twenty-channel second-order dual filterbank, defined on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform, with tunable channel spacing and 20 GHz single-channel bandwidth. We demonstrate the precise tuning of eleven (out of the twenty) channels, with a channel spacing of 124 GHz (~1 nm) and crosstalk between channels of about -45 dB. The effective thermo-optic tuning efficiency is about 27 µW/GHz/ring. A single channel of a twenty-channel counter-propagating filterbank is also demonstrated, showing that both propagating modes exhibit identical filter responses. Considerations about thermal crosstalk are also presented. These filterbanks are suitable for on-chip wavelength-division-multiplexing applications, and have the largest-to-date reported number of channels built on an SOI platform.

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We demonstrate a high-repetition-rate soliton fiber laser that is based on highly doped anomalously dispersive erbium-doped fiber. By splicing an 11 mm single-mode fiber to the erbium-doped fiber, the thermal damage of the butt-coupled saturable Bragg reflector (SBR) is overcome. The laser generates 187 fs pulses at a repetition rate of 967 MHz with a measured long-term stability of more than 60 h.

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The carrier-envelope phase dynamics of few-cycle octave-spanning Ti:sapphire lasers are analyzed based on a numerical one-dimensional dispersion-managed laser model. The dominant contribution to the carrier-envelope phase shift with respect to intracavity energy arises from the asymmetric impact of self-steepening on pulse formation and laser output. We show that this term is larger by a factor of four than the energy-dependent round trip phase and is thus more significant than in the corresponding result for conventional soliton lasers. Frequency shifts due to the Raman effect are studied and found to be of minor impact for octave-spanning lasers.

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We demonstrate a soliton fiber laser based on an anomalously dispersive erbium-doped fiber butt-coupled to a saturable absorber mirror for passive mode locking. The laser generates 180 fs pulses at a repetition rate of 491 MHz and exhibits a timing jitter as low as 20 fs over the frequency range 1 kHz-10 MHz.

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We develop a coupled mode theory (CMT) model of the behavior of a polarization source in a general photonic structure, and obtain an analytical expression for the resulting generated electric field; loss, gain and/or nonlinearities can also be modeled. Based on this treatment, we investigate the criteria needed to achieve an enhancement in various nonlinear effects, and to produce efficient sources of terahertz radiation, in particular. Our results agree well with exact finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) results. Therefore, this approach can also in certain circumstances be used as a potential substitute for the more numerically intensive FDTD method.

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We report the observation of photoluminescence produced by the recombination of free carriers generated via continuous-wave (CW) two-photon absorption (TPA) in a packaged, low-confinement (Gamma approximately 0.5%) InGaAsP/InP quantum-well slab-coupled optical waveguide amplifier (SCOWA) having a saturation output power of 0.8 W and 1/e-mode-field diameters of 5 x 7 microm. Photoluminescence power measured at the wavelength corresponding to the bandgap wavelength of the SCOWA's InGaAsP waveguide (lambda(G) approximately 1040 nm) exhibits a quadratic dependence on the amplifier's 1540-nm output power. Comparison between measured and simulated CW gain saturation data reveals that the combination of TPA and TPA-generated free-carrier absorption (FCA) limits the CW output intensity of high-power, low-confinement semiconductor optical amplifiers and semiconductor lasers.

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