The 1550-nm Tunable Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) External Cavity Laser (ECL)

Author(s):

G. Alex Newburgh, Justin Bickford, Valerie Yoshioka, and Pak Cho

Abstract:

Widely tunable lasers operating at approximately 1550 nm are required for the implementation of compact atomic-based sensors, optical-based communication, and chemical/biological sensors. This report details the construction and characterization of a prototype 1550-nm tunable diode laser on a chip. The device occupies less than 1 mm² of area and is continuously wavelength-tunable in the range of 1530 to 1600 nm with a side-band suppression ratio of greater than 50 dB.