Demonstration of InP-on-Si Self-Pulsating DFB Laser Diodes for Optical Microwave Generation

We demonstrate self-pulsating heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-SOI two-section distributed feedback laser diodes, with a wide range of self-pulsation frequencies between (but not limited to) 12 and 40 GHz. The spectral width of the free-running pulsations is 40 MHz. The dependence of the self-pulsation frequency on the injected current combination and the temperature is investigated. Finally, locking the self-pulsation to an electrical RF signal with power as low as –17 dBm is demonstrated, which can be used for the generation of an optical microwave carrier with a spectral width less than 10 Hz. Such laser could be beneficial for radio-over-fiber applications.