title: Characterization of a high coherence, Brillouin microcavity laser on silicon.
abstract: Recently, a high efficiency, narrow-linewidth, chip-based stimulated Brillouin laser (SBL) was demonstrated using an ultra-high-Q, silica-on-silicon resonator. In this work, this novel laser is more fully characterized. The Schawlow Townes linewidth formula for Brillouin laser operation is derived and compared to linewidth data, and the fitting is used to measure the mechanical thermal quanta contribution to the Brillouin laser linewidth. A study of laser mode pulling by the Brillouin optical gain spectrum is also presented, and high-order, cascaded operation of the SBL is demonstrated. Potential application of these devices to microwave sources and phase-coherent communication is discussed.
authors.affiliation: T. J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hansuek
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kerry J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Vahala
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007834:Lasers; D008027:Light; D008904:Miniaturization; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D014159:Transducers
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon