title: Sagnac loop mirror and micro-ring based laser cavity for silicon-on-insulator.
abstract: An integrated laser is a key component in silicon based photonic integrated circuits. Beyond incorporating the gain medium, on-chip cavity design is critical to device performance and yield. Typical recent results involve cavities utilizing distributed Bragg gratings that require ultra-fine feature sizes. We propose to build laser cavity on silicon using a Sagnac loop mirror and a micro-ring wavelength filter for the first time. The Sagnac loop mirror provides broadband reflection, which is simple to fabricate, has an accurately-controlled reflectivity, and negligible excess loss. Single-mode operation is achieved with the intra-cavity micro-ring filter and, using a 248 nm stepper, the laser wavelength can be lithographically controlled within a standard deviation of 3.6 nm. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept device lasing at 1551.7 nm, with 44 dB SMSR, 1.2 MHz linewidth and 4.8 mW on-chip output power.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shuyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Andy Eu-Jin
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Guo-Qiang
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Magill
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baehr-Jones
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hochberg