Scalable single-microring hybrid III-V/Si lasers for emerging narrow-linewidth applications

TL;DR

This paper presents a scalable hybrid III-V/Si laser using a single microring resonator, achieving narrow linewidth, high power, and simplified control, suitable for emerging high-capacity photonic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel single-microring hybrid laser architecture with minimal control parameters, enhancing scalability and ease of integration for industry.

Findings

Single-mode operation with >40 dB SMSR

Laser output power of 16.4 mW

Linewidth of 2.79 kHz and RIN of -135 dB/Hz

Abstract

Silicon photonics, compatible with large-scale silicon manufacturing, is a disruptive photonic platform that has indicated significant implications in industry and research areas (e.g., quantum, neuromorphic computing, LiDAR). Cutting-edge applications such as high-capacity coherent optical communication and heterodyne LiDAR have escalated the demand for integrated narrow-linewidth laser sources. To that effect, this work seeks to address this requirement through the development of a high-performance hybrid III-V/silicon laser. The developed integrated laser, utilizes a single microring resonator (MRR), demonstrating single-mode operation with a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) exceeding 40 dB, with laser output power as high as 16.4 mW. Moving away from current hybrid/heterogeneous laser architectures that necessitate multiple complex control, the developed laser architecture requires only two control parameters. Importantly, this serves to streamline industrial adoption by reducing the complexity involved in characterizing these lasers, at-scale. Through the succinct structure and control framework, a narrow laser linewidth of 2.79 kHz and low relative intensity noise (RIN) of -135 dB/Hz are achieved. Furthermore, optical data transmission at 12.5 Gb/s is demonstrated where a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 10 dB is measured.