2023-11-12 21:10:00
In a quest to miniaturize a technology that typically requires bulky equipment, scientists have successfully reduced a mode-locked laser (MLL) to the size of an optical chip using an integrated nanophotonics platform. This achievement opens the way to ultra-fast laser systems for a multitude of applications.
Reducing the size of mode-locked lasers
THE mode-locked lasers (MLL) are capable of producing ultra-short, coherent pulses of light at extremely fast speeds, on the order of picoseconds and femtoseconds. These devices have enabled the emergence of many technologies in photonics, such as extreme nonlinear optics, two-photon microscopy and optical computing. Most MLLs, however, are expensive, power-hungry, and require discrete and bulky optical components.
As a result, the use of ultrafast photonic systems has generally been limited to benchtop laboratory experiments. In addition, the so-called MLLs “integratedintended to power nanophotonic platforms, suffer from critical limitations such as low peak power and lack of controllability.
A new approach for integrated MLLs
Through hybrid integration of a solid-state optical amplifier chip with a novel thin-film lithium niobate nanophotonic circuit, Quishi Guo and his team from the Electrical Engineering Department of theCalifornia Institute of Technologyin the United States have created an integrated MLL the size of an optical chip.
According to them, the MLL generates ultra-short optical pulses of around 4.8 picoseconds at around 1065 nanometers with a peak power of around 0.5 Watts – the highest output pulse energy and peak power of all MLLs integrated into nanophotonic platforms.
Additionally, the researchers demonstrated that the repetition rate of the integrated MLL can be tuned over a range of approximately 200 megahertz, and that the coherence properties of the laser can be precisely controlled, providing a pathway to a frequency comb source fully stabilized nanophotonics on chip.
Synthetic
The Caltech researchers’ achievement marks an important step in the miniaturization of photonic technologies. Their work on the mode-locked laser could pave the way for more accessible and tractable ultra-fast nanophotonic systems for a wide range of applications.
For a better understanding
What is a mode-locked laser (MLL)?
A mode-locked laser is a type of laser that produces ultra-short, coherent pulses of light at extremely fast speeds, in the range of picoseconds and femtoseconds.
What are the challenges associated with traditional MLLs?
Traditional MLLs are often expensive, power-hungry, and require discrete and bulky optical components. Additionally, they suffer from limitations such as low peak power and lack of controllability.
They used a hybrid integration of a solid-state optical amplifier chip with a novel thin-film lithium niobate nanophotonic circuit to create an integrated MLL the size of an optical chip.
What is the performance of this new integrated MLL?
The integrated MLL generates ultra-short optical pulses of approximately 4.8 picoseconds at approximately 1065 nanometers with a peak power of approximately 0.5 Watts. Additionally, its repetition rate can be set to a range of around 200 megahertz.
What are the implications of this realization?
This achievement could pave the way for more accessible and tractable ultra-fast nanophotonic systems for a wide range of applications.
Main lessons
Teachings1. Mode-locked lasers (MLLs) produce ultra-short pulses of light at extremely fast speeds.2. Traditional MLLs are expensive, power-hungry, and require bulky optical components.3. Guo and his team created an integrated MLL the size of an optical chip.4. The integrated MLL generates ultra-short optical pulses of approximately 4.8 picoseconds at approximately 1065 nanometers.5. The integrated MLL has a peak power of approximately 0.5 Watts.6. The repetition rate of the built-in MLL can be set to a range of approximately 200 megahertz.7. This achievement could pave the way for more accessible and tractable ultra-fast nanophotonic systems.8. Challenges remain to further optimize these systems.9. The coherence properties of the laser can be precisely controlled.10. This provides a path to a fully stabilized on-chip nanophotonic frequency comb source.
References
Guo, Q. et al. (2023). Hybrid integration of a semiconductor optical amplifier chip with a novel thin-film lithium niobate nanophotonic circuit. Journal of Nanophotonics.
Article : “Ultrafast mode-locked laser in nanophotonic lithium niobate” – DOI: 10.1126/science.adj5438
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