Narrow Spectrum Light Source
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a semiconductor laser that emits light, wherein the light comprises a plurality of spectral components that define a spectral bandwidth of the semiconductor laser; and
a ring resonator that is optically coupled to the semiconductor laser, wherein;
(a) the ring resonator comprises waveguides that include a waveguide core having an inner core of stoichiometric silicon oxide (SiO2) and an outer core of stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si3N4);
(b) the ring resonator is dimensioned and arranged to selectively return an on-resonance spectral component, from the plurality of spectral components, to the semiconductor laser; and
(c) the on-resonance spectral component is a desired operating wavelength of the semiconductor laser.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method are disclosed for decreasing the spectral bandwidth of a semiconductor laser, such as a vertical cavity surface emitting laser.
-
Citations
17 Claims
-
1. An apparatus comprising:
-
a semiconductor laser that emits light, wherein the light comprises a plurality of spectral components that define a spectral bandwidth of the semiconductor laser; and a ring resonator that is optically coupled to the semiconductor laser, wherein; (a) the ring resonator comprises waveguides that include a waveguide core having an inner core of stoichiometric silicon oxide (SiO2) and an outer core of stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si3N4); (b) the ring resonator is dimensioned and arranged to selectively return an on-resonance spectral component, from the plurality of spectral components, to the semiconductor laser; and (c) the on-resonance spectral component is a desired operating wavelength of the semiconductor laser. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. An apparatus comprising:
-
a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (“
VCSEL”
) that emits light having a plurality of spectral components;a first ring resonator that is optically coupled to the VCSEL; a second ring resonator that is optically coupled to the first ring resonator and the VCSEL, wherein; (a) the first ring resonator is dimensioned and arranged to generate a plurality of on-resonance spectral components; (b) the second ring resonator is dimensioned and arranged to filter the plurality of on-resonance spectral components and selectively return one of the on-resonance spectral components to the VCSEL, which is a desired operating wavelength of the VCSEL; and a tuning element, wherein the tuning element is operable to change a wavelength of the on-resonance spectral component. - View Dependent Claims (13)
-
-
14. A method comprising:
-
providing a ring resonator that is dimensioned and arranged to provide a suitable free spectral range and a resonant wavelength that corresponds to a desired output wavelength of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (“
VCSEL”
), and wherein the ring resonator comprises waveguides that include a waveguide core having an inner core of stoichiometric silicon oxide (SiO2) and an outer core of stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si3N4); andoptically coupling the output of the VCSEL to a ring resonator so that; (a) a spectral component of light that is emitted from the VCSEL that has a wavelength that is the same as a resonant wavelength of the ring resonator is returned to the VCSEL via operation of the ring resonator; and (b) spectral components of light that is emitted from the VCSEL that have a wavelength that is not the same as the resonant wavelength of the ring resonator are not returned to the VCSEL, thereby decreasing a spectral bandwidth of the output of the VCSEL. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
Specification