Paul W. Juodawlkis

Optically sampled analog-to-digital converters

Optically sampled analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) combine optical sampling with electronic quantization to enhance the performance of electronic ADCs. In this paper, we review the prior and current work in this field, and then describe our efforts to develop and extend the bandwidth of a linearized sampling technique referred to as phase-encoded optical sampling. The technique uses a dual-output electrooptic sampling transducer to achieve both high linearity and 60-dB suppression of laser amplitude noise. The bandwidth of the technique is extended by optically distributing the post-sampling pulses to an array of time-interleaved electronic quantizers. We report on the performance of a 505-MS/s (megasample per second) optically sampled ADC that includes high-extinction LiNbO/sub 3/ 1-to-8 optical time-division demultiplexers. Initial characterization of the 505-MS/s system reveals a maximum signal-to-noise ratio of 51 dB (8.2 bits) and a spur-free dynamic range of 61 dB. The performance of the present system is limited by electronic quantizer noise, photodiode saturation, and preliminary calibration procedures. None of these fundamentally limit this sampling approach, which should enable multigigahertz converters with 12-b resolution. A signal-to-noise analysis of the phase-encoded sampling technique shows good agreement with measured data from the 505-MS/s system.

Optical down-sampling of wide-band microwave signals

Phase-encoded optical sampling allows radio-frequency and microwave signals to be directly down-converted and digitized with high linearity and greater than 60-dB (10-effective-bit) signal-to-noise ratio. Wide-band electrical signals can be processed using relatively low optical sampling rates provided that the instantaneous signal bandwidth is less than the Nyquist sampling bandwidth. We demonstrate the capabilities of this technique by using a 60-MS/s system to down-sample two different FM chirp signals: 1) a baseband (0-250 MHz) linear-chirp waveform and 2) a nonlinear-chirp waveform having a 10-GHz center frequency and a frequency excursion of 1 GHz. We characterize the frequency response of the technique and quantify the analog bandwidth limitation due to the optical pulse width. The 3-dB bandwidth imposed by a 30-ps sampling pulse is shown to be 10.4 GHz. We also investigate the impact of the pulse width on the linearity of the phase-encoded optical sampling technique when it is used to sample high-frequency signals.

High-power 1.5-/spl mu/m InGaAsP-InP slab-coupled optical waveguide amplifier

We report the first demonstration of a high-power semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) based on the slab-coupled optical waveguide concept. This concept allows the realization of SOAs having large fundamental optical modes, low loss, and small optical confinement factor. These attributes support large output saturation power, long length for efficient heat removal, and direct butt-coupling to single-mode fibers. The 1.5-/spl mu/m InGaAsP-InP quantum-well amplifier described here has a length of 1 cm, 1/e/sup 2/ intensity widths of 4 /spl mu/m (vertical) and 8 /spl mu/m (horizontal), a fiber-to-fiber gain of 13 dB, and a fiber-coupled output saturation power of 630 mW (+28 dBm). The measured butt-coupling efficiency between the amplifier and SMF-28 is 55%. Thus, the output saturation power of the amplifier itself is approximately 1.1 W (+31 dBm).

250 mW, 1.5µm monolithic passively mode-locked slab-coupled optical waveguide laser

We report the demonstration of a 1.5 microm InGaAsP mode-locked slab-coupled optical waveguide laser (SCOWL) producing 10 ps pulses with energies of 58 pJ and average output powers of 250 mW at a repetition rate of 4.29 GHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first passively mode-locked slab-coupled optical waveguide laser. The large mode and low confinement factor of the SCOWL architecture allows the realization of monolithic mode-locked lasers with high output power and pulse energy. The laser output is nearly diffraction limited with M2 values less than 1.2 in both directions.

High-Quality 150 mm InP-to-Silicon Epitaxial Transfer for Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits

The integration of dissimilar materials is of great interest to enable silicon photonics and enable optical interconnects in future microprocessors. The wavelength transparency of Si in the telecom window 1.3–1.6 m is another compelling reason to integrate microphotonics and microelectronics. A major challenge for this integration is the incompatibility of the III–V compound and Si semiconductors used to implement microphotonics and microelectronics, respectively. Si and InP have an 8.1% lattice mismatch, making heteroepitaxial growth of InGaAsP compounds on Si with low misfit dislocation density difficult. 1

1.5-/spl mu/m InGaAsP-InP slab-coupled optical waveguide lasers

We report the demonstration of high-power semiconductor slab-coupled optical waveguide lasers (SCOWLs) operating at a wavelength of 1.5 /spl mu/m. The lasers operate with large (4/spl times/8 /spl mu/m diameter) fundamental mode and produce output power in excess of 800 mW. These structures have very low loss (/spl sim/0.5 cm/sup -1/) enabling centimeter-long devices for efficient heat removal. The large fundamental mode allows 55% butt-coupling efficiency to standard optical fiber (SMF-28). Comparisons are made between SCOWL structures having nominal 4- and 5-/spl mu/m-thick waveguides.

Effects of crosstalk in demultiplexers for photonic analog-to-digital converters

Time interleaving of samples digitized by a parallel array of analog-to-digital (A/D) converters provides a means of increasing the sampling rate beyond that possible with a single A/D converter. For time-interleaved photonic A/D converters, optical demultiplexers can be used to advantage. Both time-division and wavelength-division demultiplexers must yield low crosstalk between the parallel output channels in order to yield accurate A/D conversion. An analysis predicts the level and form of the resulting errors. The analytical results compare well with experiment.

Self-Stabilization of an Actively Mode-Locked Semiconductor-Based Fiber-Ring Laser for Ultralow Jitter

Noise characteristics are studied for a self-stabilized laser utilizing the interplay between the intracavity dispersion and the optical frequency shift. The noise suppression bandwidth of this scheme is from 0 to ~100 KHz and showed the reduction of residual timing jitter (integrated from 0.9 Hz to 1 MHz) from 2.2fs to 660 attosecond which represents, to our knowledge, the lowest timing jitter reported for an actively mode-locked laser

High-Power, Low-Noise 1.5-μm Slab-Coupled Optical Waveguide (SCOW) Emitters: Physics, Devices, and Applications

We review the development of a new class of high-power, edge-emitting, semiconductor optical gain medium based on the slab-coupled optical waveguide (SCOW) concept. We restrict the scope to InP-based devices incorporating either InGaAsP or InGaAlAs quantum-well active regions and operating in the 1.5-μm-wavelength region. Key properties of the SCOW gain medium include large transverse optical mode dimensions (>;5 × 5 μm), ultralow optical confinement factor (Γ ~ 0.25-1%), and small internal loss coefficient (αi ~ 0.5 cm-1). These properties have enabled the realization of 1) packaged Watt-class semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) having low-noise figure (4-5 dB), 2) monolithic passively mode-locked lasers generating 0.25-W average output power, 3) external-cavity fiber-ring actively mode-locked lasers exhibiting residual timing jitter of <;10 fs (1Hz to Nyquist), and 4) single-frequency external-cavity lasers producing 0.37-W output power with Gaussian (Lorentzian) linewidth of 35 kHz (1.75 kHz) and relative intensity noise (RIN) <; -160 dB/Hz from 200 kHz to 10 GHz. We provide an overview the SCOW design principles, describe simulation results that quantify the performance limitations due to confinement factor, linear optical loss mechanisms, and nonlinear two-photon absorption (TPA) loss, and review the SCOW devices that have been demonstrated and applications that these devices are expected to enable.

Packaged, High-Power, Narrow-Linewidth Slab-Coupled Optical Waveguide External Cavity Laser (SCOWECL)

We report the demonstration of an InGaAlAs/InP quantum-well, high-power, low-noise packaged semiconductor external cavity laser (ECL) operating at 1550 nm. The laser comprises a double-pass, curved-channel slab-coupled optical waveguide amplifier (SCOWA) coupled to a narrow-bandwidth (2.5 GHz) fiber Bragg grating passive cavity using a lensed-fiber. At a bias current of 4 A, the ECL produces 370 mW of fiber-coupled output power with a Voigt lineshape having Gaussian and Lorentzian linewidths of 35 and 1 kHz, respectively, and relative intensity noise <; -160 dB/Hz from 200 kHz to 10 GHz.