Characterization of a Low-Cost, Monolithically Integrated, Tunable 10G Transmitter for Wavelength Agile PONs

• Published in: IEEE journal of quantum electronics 2018-12, Vol.54 (6), p.1-12
• Main Authors: Carey, Daniel, Ramaswamy, Prasanna, Talli, Giuseppe, Antony, Cleitus, Roycroft, Brendan, Corbett, Brian, Townsend, Paul D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorptivity; Carrier frequencies; Chirp; Cost control; Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing; Equipment costs; Fabrication; Fiber optic networks; Low cost; Measurement techniques; Modulation; monolithic integration; On-Off Keying; Optical communication; Optical communications; Optical transmitters; passive optical networks; Quantum wells; Response time; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Thermal response; time division multiplexing; Transmitters; tunable semiconductor lasers; Tuning; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Waveguide lasers
• ISSN: 0018-9197; 1558-1713
• DOI: 10.1109/JQE.2018.2874628

Dynamically reconfigurable passive optical networks (PONs) using time-division multiplexing and dense wavelength division multiplexing will require low-cost, high-performance customer premises equipment to be economically viable. In particular, substantial cost savings can be achieved through the use of efficient re-growth free, foundry-compatible fabrication techniques. Using this strategy, this paper presents the first detailed characterization of a monolithically integrated transmitter comprised of a discretely tunable slotted Fabry-Pérot ridge waveguide laser, an absorptive modulator and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) produced using a standard off-the-shelf AlInGaAs/InP multiple quantum well epitaxial structure. This first generation device demonstrates a discrete single-mode tuning range of approximately 12 nm between 1551nm and 1563 nm with a side-mode suppression ratio ≥30 dB. Moreover, the integrated modulator section is shown to support transmission at 10 Gb/s using non-return to zero on-off keying with an extinction ratio in excess of 8 dB. Furthermore, using a time-resolved chirp measurement technique to examine dynamic deviations in the set carrier frequency, the modulator section exhibits a chirp contribution of