APL Photonics (Oct 2024)

GaAs-based photonic integrated circuit platform enabling monolithic ring-resonator-coupled lasers

  • Jan-Philipp Koester,
  • Hans Wenzel,
  • Jörg Fricke,
  • Matthias Reggentin,
  • Pietro Della Casa,
  • Poojitha Sammeta,
  • Olaf Brox,
  • Michael Ekterai,
  • Mario Kohlbrenner,
  • Andreas Renkewitz,
  • Christof Zink,
  • Thomas Tenzler,
  • Jos Boschker,
  • Markus Weyers,
  • Andrea Knigge

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0223134
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 10
pp. 106102 – 106102-11

Abstract

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This paper reports on a monolithically integrated gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based photonic integrated circuit platform for wavelengths around 1064 nm. Enabled by spatially selective quantum well removal and two-step epitaxial growth, it supports on-chip gain as well as passive waveguides. In addition, shallow- and deep-etched waveguides are realized. The former result in waveguide losses of less than 2 dB/cm, while the latter enable compact integrated waveguide components. To demonstrate the performance of the platform, racetrack ring resonators based on deep-etched Euler bends and shallow-etched directional couplers are realized, achieving high intrinsic quality factors of 2.6 × 105 and 3.2 × 105 for the fundamental TE and TM mode, respectively. To demonstrate the use of these resonators, ring-resonator-coupled lasers are fabricated, resulting in one-sided output powers of up to 14 mW and single-mode operation with 40 dB side-mode suppression. The successful integration of ring resonators on a GaAs-based active/passive photonic integrated circuit platform paves the way for the realization of fully monolithic, widely tunable, and narrow linewidth ring-resonator-coupled laser sources.