Mohammed Zahed Mustafa Khan

Chirped InAs/InP quantum-dash laser with enhanced broad spectrum of stimulated emission

We report on the demonstration of 50 nm (full-width at half-maximum) broadband stimulated emission from a chirped AlGaInAs barrier thickness multi-stack InAs/InP quantum dash (Qdash) laser. The 2 μm wide uncoated Fabry-Perot (FP) ridge-waveguide laser exhibits a total power of 0.18 W, corresponding to an average spectral power density of 3.5 mW/nm, under pulsed current conditions. Intentional extended inhomogeneity across the Qdash stacks have been attributed to the enhancement of broadband emission.

Analysis of CMOS Compatible Cu-Based TM-Pass Optical Polarizer

A transverse-magnetic-pass (TM-pass) optical polarizer based on Cu complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology platform is proposed and analyzed using the 2-D method-of-lines numerical model. In designing the optimum configuration for the polarizer, it was found that the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) polarizer structure is superior compared to the insulator-metal-insulator polarizer structure due to its higher polarization extinction ratio (PER) and low insertion loss. An optimized MIM TM-pass polarizer exhibits simulated long wavelength pass filter characteristics of >;~1.2 μ.m, with fundamental TM0 and TE0 mode transmissivity of >;70% and <;5%, respectively, and with PER ~11.5 dB in the wavelength range of 1.2-1.6 μ.m. The subwavelength and submicrometer features of this TM-polarizer are potentially suitable for compact and low power photonics integrated circuit implementation on silicon-based substrates.

Modeling the lasing spectra of InAs/InP Quantum dash lasers

We report a theoretical model for InAs/InP quantum-dash (Qdash) lasers incorporating a coupled set of rate equations taking into account the inhomogeneous broadening due to Qdash size fluctuation, the homogeneous broadening due to optical gain of a single Qdash, and the longitudinal cavity modes. The role of cavity length on the Qdash lasing characteristics, particularly the redshift in the peak lasing wavelength, is analyzed and compared with the experimental results by attributing it to the active region inhomogeneity.

Investigation of Chirped InAs/InGaAlAs/InP Quantum Dash Lasers as Broadband Emitters

In this paper, we assessed the effect of additionally broadened quantum dash (Qdash) optical transitions in the multi-stack dash-in-a-well laser structure at both, material and device level. A broad photoluminescence linewidth of ~ 150 nm demonstrates the formation of highly inhomogeneous InAs-dashes across the stacks. The transmission electron microscopy revealed small (large) average dash height from the Qdash stack with thick (thin) over grown barrier layer. The Fabry-Perot laser diodes fabricated from this chirped structure exhibits unique device physics under the short pulsewidth (SPW) and quasi-continuous wave (QCW) operation. Varying the ridge-width (W) from 2 to 4 μm showed quenching of ultrabroad lasing signature in the SPW operation, and consistent even for a wide 15 μm oxide strip laser diode. A lasing spectral split with reduced intensity gap in the center is observed in the QCW operation with the gap decreasing with increasing ridge-width. Such atypical lasing operation, influenced by the waveguiding mechanism is qualitatively realized by associating to the reduced vertical coupling effect of the Qdash stacks in the operation of small ridge-width lasers compared with large ridge-width and oxide stripe lasers, and leading to varying non-uniform distribution of carriers among the inhomogeneously broadened Qdash stacks in each case. Our chirped 2 × 830 μm ridge laser demonstrated marked improvement in the internal quantum efficiency (~ 80%) and -3 dB lasing bandwidth, centered at ~1.61 μm.

Effect of the number of stacking layers on the characteristics of quantum-dash lasers

A theoretical model is evaluated to investigate the characteristics of InAs/InP quantum dash (Qdash) lasers as a function of the stack number. The model is based on multimode carrier-photon rate equations and accounts for both inhomogeneous and homogeneous broadenings of the optical gain. The numerical results show a non monotonic increase in the threshold current density and a red shift in the lasing wavelength on increasing the stack number, which agrees well with reported experimental results. This observation may partly be attributed to an increase of inhomogeneity in the active region.

A Noniterative Formulation for 2-D Optical Waveguide Discontinuity Problems Based on PadÉ Approximants

In this letter, we propose a simple noniterative formulation for the analysis of optical waveguide discontinuity problems. The formulation, which is based on rotated branch cut Pade approximation scheme, is both accurate and efficient. It is computationally fast due to its noniterative nature. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by modeling an optical waveguide air facet. Calculations show good agreement with previously published results.

Simultaneous quantum dash-well emission in a chirped dash-in-well superluminescent diode with spectral bandwidth >700 nm

We report on the quantitative evidence of simultaneous amplified spontaneous emission from the AlGaInAs/InAs/InP-based quantum-well (Qwell) and quantum-dashes (Qdash) in a multistack dash-in-an-asymmetric-well superluminescent diode heterostructure. As a result, an emission bandwidth (full width at half-maximum) of >700 nm is achieved, covering entire O-E-S-C-L-U communication bands, and a maximum continuous wave output power of 1.3 mW, from this device structure. This demonstration paves a way to bridge entire telecommunication bands through proper optimization of device gain region, bringing significant advances and impact to a variety of cross-disciplinary field applications.

Spectral Analysis of Quantum-Dash Lasers: Effect of Inhomogeneous Broadening of the Active-Gain Region

The effect of the active region inhomogeneity on the spectral characteristics of InAs/InP quantum-dash (Qdash) lasers is examined theoretically by solving the coupled set of carrier-photon rate equations. The inhomogeneity due to dash size or composition fluctuation is included in the model by considering dispersive energy states and characterized by a Gaussian envelope. In addition, the technique incorporates multilongitudinal photon modes and homogeneous broadening of the optical gain. The results predict a red shift in the central lasing wavelength of Qdash lasers on increasing the inhomogeneous broadening either explicitly or implicitly, which supports various experimental observations. The threshold current density and the lasing bandwidth are also found to increase.

A Magnetoresistive Tactile Sensor for Harsh Environment Applications

A magnetoresistive tactile sensor is reported, which is capable of working in high temperatures up to 140 °C. Hair-like bioinspired structures, known as cilia, made out of permanent magnetic nanocomposite material on top of spin-valve giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors are used for tactile sensing at high temperatures. The magnetic nanocomposite, consisting of iron nanowires incorporated into the polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), is very flexible, biocompatible, has high remanence, and is also resilient to antagonistic sensing ambient. When the cilia come in contact with a surface, they deflect in compliance with the surface topology. This yields a change of the GMR sensor signal, enabling the detection of extremely fine features. The spin-valve is covered with a passivation layer, which enables adequate performance in spite of harsh environmental conditions, as demonstrated in this paper for high temperature.

High-Power and High-Efficiency 1.3- µm Superluminescent Diode With Flat-Top and Ultrawide Emission Bandwidth

We report on a flat-top and ultrawide emission bandwidth of 125 nm from InGaAsP/InP multiple quantum-well (MQW) superluminescent diode with antireflection coated and tilted ridge-waveguide device configuration. A total output power in excess of 70 mW with an average power spectral density of 0.56 mW/nm and spectral ripple ≤ 1.2 ± 0.5 dB is measured from the device. Wall-plug efficiency and output power as high as 14% and 80 mW, respectively, is demonstrated from this batch of devices. We attribute the broad emission to the inherent inhomogeneity of the electron-heavy-hole (e-hh) and electron-light-hole (e-lh) recombination of the ground state and the first excited state of the MQWs and their simultaneous emission.