6533b7d8fe1ef96bd126b614
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Finely tunable laser based on a bulk silicon wafer for gas sensing applications
Jose L. CruzEverardo Vargas-rodriguezE. Gallegos-arellanoR. K. Raja-ibrahimA. D. Guzman-chavezM. Cano-contrerassubject
Range (particle radiation)Materials sciencePhysics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)Hybrid silicon laserbusiness.industrychemistry.chemical_element02 engineering and technologyLaser01 natural scienceslaw.invention010309 opticsErbiumWavelength020210 optoelectronics & photonicsOpticschemistrylaw0103 physical sciences0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineeringWaferbusinessInstrumentationFabry–Pérot interferometerTunable laserdescription
In this work a very simple continuously tunable laser based on an erbium ring cavity and a silicon wafer is presented. This laser can be tuned with very fine steps, which is a compulsory characteristic for gas sensing applications. Moreover the laser is free of mode hopping within a spectral range sufficiently wide to match one of the ro-vibrational lines of a target molecule. Here the proposed laser reached, at ∼1530 nm, a continuous tuning range of around 950 pm (>100 GHz) before mode hopping occurred, when a silicon wafer of 355 μm thickness was used. Additionally, the laser can be finely tuned with small tuning steps of <12 pm, achieving a resolution of 84.6 pm °C-1 and by using a thermo-electric cooler (TEC) the laser showed a high wavelength stability over time. These tuning characteristics are sufficient to detect molecules such as acetylene in which the mean separation between two ro-vibrational lines is around 600 pm. Finally, it is shown that the tuning range can be modified by using wafers with different thickness.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-05-10 | Laser Physics Letters |