Broadband tunable integrated CMOS pulser with 80-ps minimum pulse width for gain-switched semiconductor lasers.

ABSTRACT: High power pulsed lasers with tunable pulse widths are highly favored in many applications. When combined with power amplification, gain-switched semiconductor lasers driven by broadband tunable electric pulsers can meet such requirements. For this reason, we designed and produced a low-cost integrated CMOS pulse generator with a minimum pulse width of 80?ps and a wide tuning range of up to 270?ns using a 40-nm microelectronic process technique. We used this pulser to drive a 1.3-µm semiconductor laser diode directly, and thereafter investigated the gain-switching properties of the laser system. The optical pulses consist of a spike followed by a steady state region. Tuning the width of the electrical pulse down to approximately 1.5?ns produces optical pulses consisting only of the spike, which has a minimum pulse-width of 100?ps. Moreover, the duration of the steady state can be tuned continuously by tuning the electrical pulse width, with a peak power of approximately 5?mW. The output voltage of the electric pulser has a tuning range of 0.8-1.5?V that can be used to directly drive semiconductor laser diodes with wavelengths in the near-infrared spectrum, which are suitable for power amplification with rare-earth doped fiber amplifiers.

SUBMITTER: Chen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5537295 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature