Folded cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (FCSOA)
A folded cavity semiconductor optical amplifier is provided that includes a first mirror disposed on a substrate of semiconductor material and an active region formed thereon consisting of an optical cavity with a gain medium. The optical cavity being disposed adjacent the first mirror. A second mirror is formed and disposed on the active region on a surface opposite the first mirror. The active region of the amplifier includes input and output portions formed in one or both mirrors. The input and output portions formed from layers of reduced reflectivity relative to the first or second mirror and a longitudinal waveguide connecting the input and output portions to allow for light to be amplified to enter at the input port, travel through the vertical cavity and longitudinal waveguide, and exit as amplified light at the output portion of the waveguide structure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/394,368, filed Jul. 7, 2002.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical amplifiers and more particularly to a semiconductor optical amplifier having a folded cavity with surface normal input and output.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiber optic networks are revolutionizing communications technology. Since the hardware used to convert electrons to photons (E to O) and back again (O to E) represents one of the major costs of building and maintaining such networks, recently there has been a trend toward all-optical networks, which bypass these conversions altogether. The advent of the erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) enabled the design and practical implementation of all-optical networks. One disadvantage is that the cost of EDFAs has not fallen along with the rest of the components and sub-systems used in the network, and remain a significant fraction of the system costs.
Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) have been proposed as a means of reducing this cost in many system applications. SOAs can be fabricated similar to the fabrication of edge emitting lasers, for example, forming a waveguide by cleaving and/or etching of vertical facets in semiconductor materials to form entry and exit points for the amplifying waveguide. Due to their compact size, reduced power consumption and reduced cost of fabrication, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) have begun to replace EDFAs in short to intermediate reach, narrow band gain applications. The disadvantages of SOAs include much narrower wavelength bands, reduced amplification, and higher noise figure than EDFAs.
One problem in the conventional SOA fabrication process is in the step of device testing. Testing is required in the manufacture of semiconductor optical amplifiers because of device defects that result from the epitaxial growth process and other fabrication process steps. Conventional SOAs require the forming of vertical facets via cleaving and/or etching in semiconductor materials to form the entry and exit points for the amplifying waveguide. Individual devices must then be placed on a submount prior to testing. This step adds expense, which is greatly multiplied by the number of discarded devices. Thus, there is a significant cost advantage for a device that can be tested at the wafer level.
Further cost reductions can be realized by implementing vertical cavity SOAs (VCSOAs). VCSOAs are cheaper to fabricate than edge emitting SOAs primarily due to the planar nature of the facets, the circular output beams and the wafer-level testability. They are also cheaper to assemble due to the relative ease of alignment and the simplicity of the external optics required. Conventional VCSOAs, however, have operational disadvantages inherent from short cavity lengths and a high reflectivity output mirror thereby producing low operation performance, including limited optical amplification, narrow amplification bandwidth and increased output noise. A significant performance advantage can be had if the length of the amplifying cavity can be extended while reducing the optical reflectivity at the entry and exit points. In short, there is a need for a SOA that provides the performance of a conventional edge-emitting SOA with the fabrication, test, assembly and cost advantages of a VCSOA. The present invention provides for all of these needs by extending the amplifying cavity, having vertical input and output, and lowering the reflectivities of the input and output facets.
SUMMARY OF INVENTIONA folded cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (FCSOA) is provided to create a improved VCSOA. The FCSOA includes a semiconductor optical amplifier comprising: a first mirror disposed on a substrate, an active region consisting of an optical cavity having gain medium. The optical cavity is disposed adjacent the first mirror. A second mirror is disposed on the active region on a surface opposite the first mirror. Input and output portions are formed in the mirrors, whereby the input and output portions have formed layers of reduced reflectivity relative to a corresponding first or second mirror. A longitudinal waveguide connects the input and output ports.
In the most generic form of this invention a bottom mirror is disposed on a substrate, an active material is disposed adjacent to the bottom mirror and a top mirror is disposed on the active material forming a folded cavity. The beam of light to be amplified enters and exits the device at the top and/or bottom surfaces. The mirror reflectivities at input and output are significantly reduced. The light to be amplified enters the device at normal or near-normal incidence such that the light propagation in the folded cavity is uni-directional. The active material is electrically or optically pumped so as to provide gain for the light to be amplified. A lateral waveguide concentrates the light and forces the light to travel in a longitudinal direction.
The FCSOA of present invention advantageously allows for multiple passes through the gain medium while maintaining a single pass through the cavity, such configuration increasing the available amplification for the signal. Additionally, the manufacture of the FCSOA overcomes the disadvantages of conventional SOA's and VCSOA's. For example, the FCSOA of the present invention provides for the near-normal entry and exit for the coupled light, thereby allowing for on-wafer testability, circular beam apertures and integrateability. Furthermore, the FCSOA of the present invention allows for lower reflectivity input and output via application of anti-reflective (AR) coatings and angled entry and exit facets, thereby allowing for additional manufacturing advantages of low feedback, coupling losses and noise figure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn the drawings, like numerals describe like components throughout the several views:
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention can be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments can be utilized and that structural changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
Referring to
The disadvantages of the VCSOA to the single-pass structure are illustrated in
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
As is illustrated in
In an alternative embodiment the light can enter or exit the device from opposite sides of the structure. Referring to
Referring to
In order to avoid losses in the lateral direction a waveguide must be formed in the plane of the device parallel to the substrate and, for many communications applications, it is important that the waveguide support only one mode. This waveguide can be tapered to expand or contract the beam so as to allow for greater optical power or greater power density, respectively. There are many approaches for controlling the transverse mode in a waveguide. However, they generally fall into two broad categories: gain/loss modulation and index modulation. In the first category, the imaginary part of the refractive index is tailored laterally so as to provide more gain or less loss for the fundamental mode with respect to higher order modes. An example of gain modulation is the use of a current constriction element, such as an oxide or implant aperture, to preferentially pump the fundamental mode. Similarly, there are a variety of methods that can be used to provide loss modulation. For example, anti-phasing of a mirror can be used to increase transmission losses for higher order modes to provide selective loss modulation. Further, the optical cavity can be extended to increase diffraction losses for higher order modes, or selective mirror doping can be used to increase absorption losses for higher order modes.
Index modulation techniques, by contrast, tailor the real part of the refractive index laterally so as to form a waveguide. Methods of index modulation include lateral regrowth of lower index material, ridge waveguide formation, oxide apertures, and effective index guiding via resonant cavity wavelength modulation. To form a waveguide using any of the index modulation methods requires creating a region of higher index surrounded by a region of lower index. The relative index step determines the width and height of the waveguide for single mode operation. The greater the index step between the effective indexes of refraction, the smaller the single mode cutoff dimensions. The lateral regrowth method is used to produce buried heterostructure waveguides much like the waveguide 16 shown in
Referring to
As applied to a FCSOA, the ridge waveguide technique can be used to create a structure such as that illustrated in
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the oxide aperture technique can be used to create a waveguide for the exemplary embodiment of
where neff is the vertical effective index and A is the vertical resonant wavelength. Δneff is the effective index step from the core to the cladding and is give as Δneff=ncladding−ncore. Similarly Δλ=λcladding−λcore. The sign of the effective index step can be negative, which produces a waveguide, or positive, which produces an antiguide. As a result, by modifying the wavelength of the vertical cavity in the lateral direction, an effective index difference between the core and cladding can be created. The effective index technique can be used to develop high-power, single mode vertical cavity lasers (VCLs) for high speed data communications. The effective index technique outlined herein advantageously can be used to create a waveguide as is illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
In yet another embodiment, optical pumping can be used to provide the gain for the amplifier. A monolithic, metamorphic or wafer-fused structure can be used to provide the gain, as illustrated in
The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein can be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For example, the present invention can be practiced with any of a variety of Group III-V or Group II-VI material systems that are designed to emit at any of a variety of wavelengths. It is therefore desired that the present embodiments be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.
The semiconductor optical amplifier of the present invention advantageously can be manufactured using a method that includes the steps of growing an epitaxial DBR mirror with cavity and gain regions. Depositing either additional dielectric material or metamorphic material on the substrate forms a hybrid cavity. A waveguide pattern is formed using an ion implant mask in the shape of the desired waveguide as set forth herein for current restriction or current confinement by implanting ions into the cavity to provide current confinement in the gain region of the waveguide. Forming a step, a lateral thickness step, which forms a lateral effective index step, which is a form of the pattern, by, etched into the dielectric material using the ion implant mask. The ion implant mask is removed to make way for the forming of a dielectric DBR mirror on the hybrid cavity and the waveguide. Next, vertical holes or vias are etched in the mirror surrounding to the waveguide including input and output ports. Finally, electrodes are attached to the vertical holes or vias on the substrate. An additional step of adding anti-reflective coating can be used to add AR to the vertical holes or vias at the input and output ports of the waveguide.
The present invention would be used in telecommunications and data-communications where low-cost, narrow-band amplification or amplifier integration, such as multiplexing or de-multiplexing of wavelengths, would provide a competitive advantage. Such needs can be found in the metropolitan access network (MAN), or in optical switching or integration applications. If sufficient advances in performance can be realized, the application space would open up to the long-haul network as well. This invention can also represent an enabling technology for the realization of opto-electronic integrated circuits.
It is understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
Claims
1. A semiconductor optical amplifier comprising:
- a first mirror disposed on a substrate;
- an active region consisting of an optical cavity having gain medium, said optical cavity being disposed adjacent said first mirror;
- a second mirror disposed on said active region on a surface opposite said first mirror;
- input and output portions formed in said mirrors, said input and output portions having formed layers of reduced reflectivity relative to a corresponding first or second mirror; and
- a longitudinal waveguide connecting said input and output ports.
2. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1, whereas said gain medium is electrically or optically pumped.
3. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1, whereas the input and output ports lie on the same sides of the vertical structure.
4. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1, whereas the input and output ports lie on opposite sides of the vertical structure.
5. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1, whereas said first and second mirrors consist of distributed Bragg reflectors from the group of a series of high and low index lattice-matched or metamorphic semiconductor layers disposed on either of said substrate or said first mirror by epitaxial growth.
6. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1, whereas said second mirror consists of a distributed Bragg reflector from the group of a series of high and low index dielectric layers disposed on said first mirror by non-epitaxial growth.
7. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1, whereas said longitudinal waveguide is gain/loss modulated in the lateral direction.
8. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1, whereas said longitudinal waveguide is index modulated in the lateral direction.
9. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1 whereas said first mirror, said optical cavity with gain material, and said second mirror are composed of lattice-matched semiconductor material, whereby and said longitudinal waveguide is formed by either etch and regrowth or ridge waveguide technique.
10. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1 whereas said first mirror and said optical cavity with gain material are composed of lattice-matched semiconductor material, said second mirror is composed of metamorphic semiconductor material, and said longitudinal waveguide is formed by etch and oxidation of said metamorphic material.
11. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 1 whereas said first mirror and said optical cavity with gain material are composed of lattice-matched semiconductor material, said second mirror is composed of dielectric material, and said longitudinal waveguide is formed via the effective index waveguide technique.
12. The semiconductor optical amplifier of claim 2 whereas said optical pumping is provided by a monolithically grown VCL structure that is wafer-fused to said SOA structure.
13. A method for producing a semiconductor optical amplifier, comprising the steps of:
- growing an epitaxial DBR mirror with cavity and gain region;
- forming a hybrid cavity with additional dielectric material;
- patterning a waveguide using an ion implant mask in the shape of a waveguide for current restriction;
- implanting ions into said cavity to provide current confinement in said gain region of said waveguide;
- etching a step in said dielectric material using said ion implant mask;
- removing said ion implant mask;
- forming a dielectric DBR mirror on said hybrid cavity of said waveguide;
- etching vertical holes or vias in said mirror adjacent to said waveguide; and
- attaching electrodes in said vertical holes and on said substrate.
14. The method of claim 13, further including adding anti-reflection (AR) coating to said vias at input and output ports of said waveguide.
15. A semiconductor optical amplifier product made by the process of claim 13.
16. A semiconductor optical amplifier product made by the process of claim 14.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 22, 2006
Publication Date: Aug 10, 2006
Inventor: John Wasserbauer (Erie, CO)
Application Number: 11/386,275
International Classification: H01S 3/00 (20060101);