Alexandros A. Liles

Lithographic wavelength control of an external cavity laser with a silicon photonic crystal cavity-based resonant reflector

We report the experimental demonstration of a new design for external cavity hybrid lasers consisting of a III-V semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with fiber reflector and a photonic crystal (PhC)-based resonant reflector on SOI. The silicon reflector is composed of an SU8 polymer bus waveguide vertically coupled to a PhC cavity and provides a wavelength-selective optical feedback to the laser cavity. This device exhibits milliwatt-level output power and side-mode suppression ratios of more than 25 dB.

Toolkit for Photonic Integrated Circuits Based on Inverted Rib Waveguides

We have performed an exploration of inverted rib waveguide platform for use in optical backplanes. This entailed the design, optimization, and characterization of a variety of passive optical components that may serve as a basis for the functions required of an on-chip optical networks. The presented design introduces an inverted-rib template, which consists of a polymer waveguide layer. We have successfully fabricated and demonstrated low-loss waveguides, and also functional passive devices such as directional couplers, multimode interferometers, waveguide bends and crossings, and distributed Bragg reflectors. We also demonstrate a way of coupling active components (e.g., in silicon) to such a photonic integrated circuit.

Compact external cavity laser with photonic crystal cavity reflector

Energy efficient Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is the key to satisfying the future bandwidth requirements of datacentres. As the silicon photonics platform is regarded the only technology able to meet the required power and cost efficiency levels, the development of silicon photonics compatible narrow linewidth lasers is now crucial. We discuss the requirements for such laser systems and report the experimental demonstration of an external-cavity hybrid lasers consisting of a III-V Semiconductor Optical Amplifier and Photonic Crystal (PhC) based resonant reflector.

Wavelength-controlled external-cavity laser with a silicon photonic crystal resonant reflector

We report the experimental demonstration of an alternative design of external-cavity hybrid lasers consisting of a III-V Semiconductor Optical Amplifier with fiber reflector and a Photonic Crystal (PhC) based resonant reflector on SOI. The Silicon reflector comprises a polymer (SU8) bus waveguide vertically coupled to a PhC cavity and provides a wavelength-selective optical feedback to the laser cavity. This device exhibits milliwatt-level output power and sidemode suppression ratio of more than 25 dB.

Frequency modulated external cavity laser with photonic crystal resonator and microheater

We demonstrate frequency modulation (FM) in an external cavity III-V/Silicon laser, comprising a Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (RSOA) and an SU8 polymer waveguide vertically coupled to a 2D Silicon Photonic Crystal (PhC) cavity. Laser FM was achieved by local heating of the PhC using a resistive element of Ni-Cr metal as a microheater to change the refractive index in the cavity hence changing the lasing frequency. Presented is a thermal study of the laser dynamics and observations of the shift in lasing frequency.

Hybrid photonic crystal lasers

Energy efficient Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is the key to satisfying the future bandwidth requirements of datacentres. As the silicon photonics platform is regarded the only technology able to meet the required power and cost efficiency levels, the development of silicon photonics compatible narrow linewidth lasers is now crucial. We discuss the requirements for such laser systems and report the experimental demonstration of a compact uncooled external-cavity mW-class laser architecture with a tunable Si Photonic Crystal resonant reflector, suitable for direct Frequency Modulation.

Compact IlI-V/silicon external cavity laser configuration with photonic crystal cavity reflector for direct frequency modulation

We report a compact uncooled external-cavity mWatt-class laser architecture with a tunable Si Photonic Crystal resonant reflector, suitable for direct Frequency Modulation. Wavelength shifts of the order of GHz for linewidths <;10 MHz and SMSRs up to 46 dB were observed.

Photonic crystal reflector laser

We describe the lasing characteristics of a semiconductor laser device, utilising a reflective semiconductor amplifier as a combined gain/mirror component, and a high Q photonic crystal reflective filter as the second cavity mirror.

Lasing dynamics of photonic crystal reflector laser

We describe the lasing characteristics of a compact tunable laser source formed by the butt-coupling of a reflective indium phosphide optical amplifier to an SU8 waveguide coupled to few-mode photonic crystal reflector. The short cavity length ensured that only a single longitudinal mode of the device could overlap with each photonic crystal reflection peak.