Wavelength-tunable Erbium-doped fiber laser using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based micro-ring with narrow laser linewidth

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate a wavelength-tunable and narrow-linewidth erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based micro-ring. We discuss the wavelength selection and wavelength-tunable operation of the proposed fiber laser. The SOI based micro-ring is fabricated on a SOI wafer with a 0.22 um thick top silicon layer and a 2 um thick burial oxide (BOX) layer. In order to enhance the coupling efficiency between the SOI based micro-ring and the EDF, a pair of uniform period grating couplers are used. In the experiment, the lasing wavelengths can be tuned in the wavelengths range from 1532 nm to 1567.2 nm with a tuning step of 2 nm. The wavelength range and the tuning step are determined by the EDFA gain-bandwidth and the FSR of the SOI based micro-ring respectively. The OSNR of each lasing wavelength is > 42 dB. By using a double-ring configuration, a narrow laser linewidth of 50 kHz can be achieved.