Narrow line-width single-longitudinal-mode fiber laser using silicon-on-insulator based micro-ring-resonator

• Published in: Laser physics letters 2016-02, Vol.13 (2), p.25102
• Main Authors: Liu, Yang, Hsu, Yung, Hsu, Chin-Wei, Yang, Ling-Gang, Chow, Chi-Wai, Yeh, Chien-Hung, Lai, Yin-Chieh, Tsang, Hon-Ki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: fiber lasers; fiber optics; optical communication
• ISSN: 1612-2011; 1612-202X
• DOI: 10.1088/1612-2011/13/2/025102

In this work, we propose and demonstrate a stable single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) fiber laser with narrow line-width by using an integrated silicon-on-insulator micro-ring resonator (SOI MRR) and two subsidiary fiber rings for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The laser is tunable over the wavelength range from 1546 to 1570 nm, with only step tuning of 2 nm steps. A maximum 49 dB side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) can be achieved. The compact SOI MRR provides a large free-spectral-range (FSR), while the subsidiary rings provide Vernier effect producing a single lasing mode. The FSR of the SOI MRR can be very large and controllable (since it is easy to fabricate small SOI MRR when compared with making small fiber-rings) using the complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compactable SOI fabrication processes. In our proposed laser, the measured single sideband (SSB) spectrum shows that the densely spaced longitudinal modes can be significantly suppressed to achieve SLM. The laser linewidth is only 3.5 kHz measured by using the self-heterodyne method. 30 min stability evaluation in terms of lasing wavelength and optical power is performed; showing the optical wavelength and power are both very stable, with fluctuations of only 0.02 nm and 0.8 dB, respectively.