Wavelength-tunable hybrid laser diode realized by using an electrostatically tuned silicon micromachined Fabry-Perot interferometer

摘要

Abstract: We investigated a possibility to use an external micromechanical Fabry-Perot Interferometer, FPI, as a tuning component in a wavelength tunable hybrid laser diode. A silicon micromachined electrostatically tunable Fabry-Perot device was placed in a short distance to the front facet of a laser diode. Together with the front facet of the laser, the FPI formed an extremely short external cavity structure. This structure provided a spectrally adjustable optical feedback to the laser diode cavity. In our experiment a 980-nm single- quantum-well high-power laser diode was used. The FPI device and the front facet of the laser diode formed an approximately 30-micron external cavity. As a result, a quasi-continuous tuning in an approximately 4-nm wavelength range was experimentally observed. Theoretical work was done in modeling the effective feedback from the external cavity. Gaussian beam approximation and field overlap methods were applied. !11