Nanxi Li

Large-scale silicon nitride nanophotonic phased arrays at infrared and visible wavelengths

We demonstrate passive large-scale nanophotonic phased arrays in a CMOS-compatible silicon photonic platform. Silicon nitride waveguides are used to allow for higher input power and lower phase variation compared to a silicon-based distribution network. A phased array at an infrared wavelength of 1550 nm is demonstrated with an ultra-large aperture size of 4  mm×4  mm, achieving a record small and near diffraction-limited spot size of 0.021°×0.021° with a side lobe suppression of 10 dB. A main beam power of 400 mW is observed. Using the same silicon nitride platform and phased array architecture, we also demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge, the first large-aperture visible nanophotonic phased array at 635 nm with an aperture size of 0.5  mm×0.5  mm and a spot size of 0.064°×0.074°.

Resonant pumped erbium-doped waveguide lasers using distributed Bragg reflector cavities.

This Letter reports on an optical pumping scheme, termed resonant pumping, for an erbium-doped distributed feedback (DFB) waveguide laser. The scheme uses two mirrors on either side of the DFB laser, forming a pump cavity that recirculates the unabsorbed pump light. Symmetric distributed Bragg reflectors are used as the mirrors and are designed by matching the external and internal quality factors of the cavity. Experimental demonstration shows lasing at an optical communication wavelength of around 1560 nm and an improvement of 1.8 times in the lasing efficiency, when the DFB laser is pumped on-resonance.

High-power thulium lasers on a silicon photonics platform

Mid-infrared laser sources are of great interest for various applications, including light detection and ranging, spectroscopy, communication, trace-gas detection, and medical sensing. Silicon photonics is a promising platform that enables these applications to be integrated on a single chip with low cost and compact size. Silicon-based high-power lasers have been demonstrated at 1.55 μm wavelength, while in the 2 μm region, to the best of our knowledge, high-power, high-efficiency, and monolithic light sources have been minimally investigated. In this Letter, we report on high-power CMOS-compatible thulium-doped distributed feedback and distributed Bragg reflector lasers with single-mode output powers up to 267 and 387 mW, and slope efficiencies of 14% and 23%, respectively. More than 70 dB side-mode suppression ratio is achieved for both lasers. This work extends the applicability of silicon photonic microsystems in the 2 μm region.

Wavelength division multiplexed light source monolithically integrated on a silicon photonics platform

We demonstrate monolithic integration of a wavelength division multiplexed light source for silicon photonics by a cascade of erbium-doped aluminum oxide (Al2O3:Er3+) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. Four DFB lasers with uniformly spaced emission wavelengths are cascaded in a series to simultaneously operate with no additional tuning required. A total output power of -10.9  dBm is obtained from the four DFBs with an average side mode suppression ratio of 38.1±2.5  dB. We characterize the temperature-dependent wavelength shift of the cascaded DFBs and observe a uniform dλ/dT of 0.02 nm/°C across all four lasers.

C-band swept wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser with a high-Q tunable interior-ridge silicon microring cavity

We demonstrate an erbium-doped fiber laser with a tunable silicon microring cavity. We measured a narrow laser linewidth (16 kHz) and single-mode continuous-wave emission over the C-band (1530nm-to-1560nm) at a swept-wavelength rate of 22,600nm/s or 3106THz/s.

Ultra-narrow-linewidth Al_2O_3:Er^3+ lasers with a wavelength-insensitive waveguide design on a wafer-scale silicon nitride platform

We report ultra-narrow-linewidth erbium-doped aluminum oxide (Al2O3:Er3+) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers with a wavelength-insensitive silicon-compatible waveguide design. The waveguide consists of five silicon nitride (SiNx) segments buried under silicon dioxide (SiO2) with a layer Al2O3:Er3+ deposited on top. This design has a high confinement factor (> 85%) and a near perfect (> 98%) intensity overlap for an octave-spanning range across near infra-red wavelengths (950-2000 nm). We compare the performance of DFB lasers in discrete quarter phase shifted (QPS) cavity and distributed phase shifted (DPS) cavity. Using QPS-DFB configuration, we obtain maximum output powers of 0.41 mW, 0.76 mW, and 0.47 mW at widely spaced wavelengths within both the C and L bands of the erbium gain spectrum (1536 nm, 1566 nm, and 1596 nm). In a DPS cavity, we achieve an order of magnitude improvement in maximum output power (5.43 mW) and a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of > 59.4 dB at an emission wavelength of 1565 nm. We observe an ultra-narrow linewidth of ΔνDPS = 5.3 ± 0.3 kHz for the DPS-DFB laser, as compared to ΔνQPS = 30.4 ± 1.1 kHz for the QPS-DFB laser, measured by a recirculating self-heterodyne delayed interferometer (R-SHDI).

Athermal synchronization of laser source with WDM filter in a silicon photonics platform

In an optical interconnect circuit, microring resonators (MRRs) are commonly used in wavelength division multiplexing systems. To make the MRR and laser synchronized, the resonance wavelength of the MRR needs to be thermally controlled, and the power consumption becomes significant with a high-channel count. Here, we demonstrate an athermally synchronized rare-earth-doped laser and MRR. The laser comprises a Si3N4 based cavity covered with erbium-doped Al2O3 to provide gain. The low thermo-optic coefficient of Al2O3 and Si3N4 and the comparable thermal shift of the effective index in the laser and microring cross-sections enable lasing and resonance wavelength synchronization over a wide range of temperatures. The power difference between matched and unmatched channels remains greater than 15 dB from 20 to 50 °C due to a synchronized wavelength shift of 0.02 nm/°C. The athermal synchronization approach reported here is not limited to microring filters but can be applied to any Si3N4 filter with integrated lasers using rare earth ion doped Al2O3 as a gain medium to achieve system-level temperature control free operation.

Octave-spanning coherent supercontinuum generation in silicon on insulator from 1.06 μm to beyond 2.4 μm

Efficient complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-based nonlinear optical devices in the near-infrared are in strong demand. Due to two-photon absorption in silicon, however, much nonlinear research is shifting towards unconventional photonics platforms. In this work, we demonstrate the generation of an octave-spanning coherent supercontinuum in a silicon waveguide covering the spectral region from the near- to shortwave-infrared. With input pulses of 18 pJ in energy, the generated signal spans the wavelength range from the edge of the silicon transmission window, approximately 1.06 to beyond 2.4 μm, with a −20 dB bandwidth covering 1.124–2.4 μm. An octave-spanning supercontinuum was also observed at the energy levels as low as 4 pJ (−35 dB bandwidth). We also measured the coherence over an octave, obtaining , in good agreement with the simulations. In addition, we demonstrate optimization of the third-order dispersion of the waveguide to strengthen the dispersive wave and discuss the advantage of having a soliton at the long wavelength edge of an octave-spanning signal for nonlinear applications. This research paves the way for applications, such as chip-scale precision spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, optical frequency metrology, frequency synthesis and wide-band wavelength division multiplexing in the telecom window.

Ultra-Compact CMOS-Compatible Ytterbium Microlaser

We demonstrate a waveguide-coupled trench-based ytterbium microlaser, achieving a sub-milliwatt lasing threshold and a 1.9% slope efficiency within an ultra-compact 40-µm-radius cavity while maintaining full compatibility with a CMOS foundry process.

Self-pulsing in Erbium-doped fiber laser

We report the study of self-pulsing behavior in erbium-doped fiber laser due to the ion-pair formation and scattered feedback. We observed the high doping concentration of the laser to be the main cause of the pulsing phenomenon. We also demonstrate that the self pulsing can be suppressed by resonance pumping.