Single-frequency integrated laser on erbium-doped lithium niobate on insulator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a stable single-frequency laser on erbium-doped lithium niobate on insulator, leveraging dual-cavity design, with potential for integrated photonic systems in telecommunications and quantum applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel dual-cavity structure enabling stable single-frequency operation on Er:LNOI, suitable for integration with existing photonic components.

Findings

Operates at 1531 nm with 0.31 μW power

Linewidth of 1.2 MHz and SMSR of 31 dB

Stable single-frequency lasing facilitated by Vernier effect

Abstract

The erbium-doped Lithium niobate on insulator (Er:LNOI) platform has great promise in the application of telecommunication, microwave photonics, and quantum photonics due to its excellent electro-optic, piezo-electric, nonlinear nature as well as the gain characteristics in the telecommunication C-band. Here, we report a single-frequency Er:LNOI integrated laser based on dual-cavity structure. Facilitated by the Vernier effect and gain competition, the single-frequency laser can operate stably at 1531-nm wavelength with a 1484-nm pump laser. The output laser has a power of 0.31 uW, a linewidth of 1.2 MHz, and a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of 31 dB. Our work allows the direct integration of this laser source with existing LNOI components and paves the way for a fully integrated LNOI system.