Thorlabs Quantum Electronics, Inc.

Quantum Photonics Corporation

Covega Corporation

Peter J S Heim

Mario Dagenais

Simarjeet S Saini

Scott A Merritt

Jerry L Bowser

Vincent K Luciani

Anthony W Yu

Jacob Mertz

Jianfei Wang

Ryan Enck

Stewart W Wilson

Dennis P Bowler

John V Hryniewicz

Xun Li

John Hryniewicz

A tunable laser assembly housed in a single enclosure and a method of control is described wherein the tunable laser, pump and semiconductor optical amplifier do not share a common optical axis but are all aligned to optical waveguides on an intervening planar lightwave circuit (PLC). Wavelength monitoring circuitry is included on the PLC to enable monitoring and control of the tunable laser center wavelength and optical bandwidth. The design of the PLC does not introduce perturbations into the swept-source laser output spectrum that would cause artifacts in imaging applications such as optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Tunable laser assembly

Tunable laser assembly and method of control

A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with efficient current injection is described. Injection current density is controlled to be higher in some areas and lower in others to provide, e.g., improved saturation power and/or noise figure. Controlled injection current can be accomplished by varying the resistivity of the current injection electrode. This, in turn, can be accomplished by patterning openings in the dielectric layer above the current injection metallization in a manner which varies the series resistance along the length of the device.

Semiconductor optical amplifier having a non-uniform injection current density

Systems and methods according to the present invention address this need and others by providing SLD devices and methods for generating optical energy that reduce internal reflections without the use of an absorber region. This can be accomplished by, among other things, adapting the waveguide geometry to dump reflections from the front facet out through the back facet of the device.

Superluminescent diodes having high output power and reduced internal reflections

Semiconductor devices having various combinations of curved waveguides and mode transformers are described. According to some exemplary embodiments, the mode transformer itself can be fabricated as all or part of the curved waveguide. For these exemplary embodiments it can be beneficial to use mode transformers whose active regions are relatively small to minimize losses associated with the introduced curvature, e.g., mode transformers that employ resonantly coupled waveguides and a tapered active waveguide in the mode transformation region. According to other exemplary embodiments, the mode transformer can be disposed along a straight portion of the waveguide, e.g., between the curved portion of the waveguide and the back facet. The present invention also provides flexibility in manufacturing by permitting different types of devices to be generated from a wafer depending upon where the devices are cleaved.

Semiconductor devices with curved waveguides and mode transformers

A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) has an overall gain that is substantially polarization independent, i.e., less than 1 dB difference between transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) gain. The SOA includes a residual cladding layer having different thicknesses over different portions of the gain section. Over a first portion of the gain section, the residual cladding layer is thinner than over a second portion of the gain section. This results in the first portion providing more gain to optical energy having a TE polarization state than optical energy having a TM polarization state. In the second portion of the gain section, however, more gain is provided to optical energy having a TM polarization state than energy having a TE polarization state. The resulting gain differences can be designed to offset one another so that the output has a gain that is substantially polarization independent.

Low polarization gain dependent semiconductor optical amplifier with variable residual cladding layer thickness

A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) has an overall gain that is substantially polarization independent, i.e., less than 1 dB difference between transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) gain. The SOA includes gain and polarization rotation functions integrated onto a single substrate. According to one exemplary embodiment, a passive polarization rotation section is disposed between two active gain sections.

Semiconductor optical amplifier with low polarization gain dependency

High power, low degree of polarization superluminescent diodes (SLDS) are described. A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) which amplifies light in substantially one polarizaton state can be used to create a SLD by combining the output from both sides of this polarization sensitive SOA in a manner which results in a depolarized output.

Methods and devices for high power, depolarized superluminescent diodes

An optical amplification device includes a depolarizer for reducing the polarization sensitivity requirements on an SOA by changing the input to the SOA from having an arbitrary (unknown) polarization state to a known (depolarized) state. The depolarizer receives an input optical signal and outputs a depolarized, optical signal, and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) receives the depolarized optical signal and outputs an amplified optical signal.

Methods and devices for amplifying optical signals using a depolarizer

An optical device is provided comprising a gain section adapted to emit radiation at a radiation wavelength, a coupling section adjacent to the gain section for transitioning radiation between an active waveguide and a passive waveguide, and a passive section adjacent to the coupling section supporting a single-lobed optical mode in the passive waveguide at the radiation wavelength. The passive waveguide has an index of refraction and dimension such that the confinement of the radiation within the active waveguide in the gain section is reduced.

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Washington, DC, United States of America

Peter J S Heim