Heterogeneous-free narrow linewidth semiconductor laser with optical injection locking

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel heterogeneous free optical injection locking (HF OIL) semiconductor laser that significantly narrows linewidth and improves phase stability, advancing applications in coherent optical communications and quantum key distribution.

Contribution

The work introduces a monolithic HF OIL laser integrating a TISE laser with a micro ring resonator, achieving stable single mode operation and a three-order magnitude linewidth reduction.

Findings

Linewidth narrowed from 1.7 MHz to 4.2 kHz

Stable single mode operation over broad current range

High phase stability and phase locking capability

Abstract

Narrow linewidth lasers are indispensable for coherent optical systems, including communications, metrology, and sensing. Although compact semiconductor lasers with narrow linewidths and low noise have been demonstrated, their spectral purity typically relies on hybrid or heterogeneous external cavity feedback. Here, we present a theoretical and experimental demonstration of a heterogeneous free optical injection locking (HF OIL) semiconductor laser. By integrating a topological interface state extended (TISE) laser with a micro ring resonator (MRR) on an AlGaInAs multiple quantum well platform,we achieve monolithic photon injection and phase locking, thereby reducing the optical linewidth. We fabricated and characterized a 1550 nm sidewall HF OIL laser, achieving stable single mode operation over a broad current range (65 to 300 mA) and a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) over 50 dB. Under injection locking, the devices Voigt fitted linewidth narrowed from over 1.7 MHz (free running) to 4.2 kHz, representing a three order of magnitude improvement over conventional distributed feedback lasers. The intrinsic linewidth of 1.4 kHz is measured by correlated delayed self-heterodyne frequency noise power spectrum density (FN PSD) method. Moreover, the HF OIL laser demonstrated high phase stability and the ability to transition from a random phased to a phase locked state. These results underscore the potential of HF-OIL lasers in advancing coherent optical communications and phase encoders in quantum key distribution (QKD) systems.