Modeling and Design of Photonic Crystal Quantum-Dot Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

A novel design of electrically pumped photonic crystal quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (PC-QDSOAs) is presented in this paper. Therefore, we design a single-mode flat-band slow light photonic crystal waveguide (SL-PCW) for an InAs/GaAs QDSOA in which the pumping is done by passing a current through a laterally doped p+-p-n+ structure. In addition, for the first time to our knowledge, we propose a nonlinear state space model (NSSM) for PC-QDSOAs, in which the effects of the SL-PCW dispersion relation as well as the effects of the homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadenings of QDs are considered. To do so, the SL effects on the gain enhancement factor and increase of the optical losses are evaluated by considering the wavelength dependence of the modal confinement factor, the group index dispersion, and the SL-enhanced absorption and scattering losses in the SL-PCWs with QD active region. The gain saturation characteristics and modal gain spectra of the PC-QDSOA are investigated under different conditions including pump current and the amplifier length. Simulation results show that the SL-PCWs can be used to reduce the transparency current of the amplifier by a factor of 20 and even more compared with the conventional QDSOAs based on ridge waveguide structures, and enhance the net modal gain of the QD active region by a factor of two to six over a broad wavelength range of about 62 nm. We found that the power consumption of PC-QDSOAs can be decreased by a factor of about 100, and also the amplifier length can be reduced by a factor of five and beyond, compared with the conventional QDSOAs. The results of this paper are useful for many applications where low power consumption and small size of the optical amplifiers are important.

[1]  D. Bimberg,et al.  Theoretical and Experimental Study of High-Speed Small-Signal Cross-Gain Modulation of Quantum-Dot Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers , 2009, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics.

[2]  A. Sarangan,et al.  Temperature-dependent Sellmeier equation for the refractive index of Al(x)Ga(1-x)As. , 2007, Optics letters.

[3]  O. Painter,et al.  Two-dimensional photonic bandgap defect laser , 1999, 1999 Digest of the LEOS Summer Topical Meetings: Nanostructures and Quantum Dots/WDM Components/VCSELs and Microcavaties/RF Photonics for CATV and HFC Systems (Cat. No.99TH8455).

[4]  T. Asano,et al.  High-Q photonic nanocavity in a two-dimensional photonic crystal , 2003, Nature.

[5]  J. D. Joannopoulos,et al.  Enhancement of nonlinear effects using photonic crystals , 2004, Nature materials.

[6]  Ali Adibi,et al.  Design of photonic crystal optical waveguides with singlemode propagation in the photonic bandgap , 2000 .

[7]  A. Rostami,et al.  Nanostructure Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers , 2011 .

[8]  T. Krauss,et al.  Loss engineered slow light waveguides. , 2010, Optics express.

[9]  Lucio Claudio Andreani,et al.  Light–matter interaction in photonic crystal slabs , 2007 .

[10]  T. Krauss,et al.  Systematic design of flat band slow light in photonic crystal waveguides. , 2008, Optics express.

[11]  R. Cingolani,et al.  High efficiency and high modal gain InAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot lasers emitting at 1300 nm , 2007 .

[12]  M. Notomi,et al.  Sub-femtojoule all-optical switching using a photonic-crystal nanocavity , 2010 .

[13]  Peter Blood,et al.  Optical mode loss and gain of multiple-layer quantum-dot lasers , 2001 .

[14]  Toshihiko Baba,et al.  All Semiconductor Low-Δ Photonic Crystal Waveguide for Semiconductor Optical Amplifier , 2006 .

[15]  R. Hunsperger.  Photon loss in the active and passive regions of a semiconductor laser , 1969 .

[16]  Shun Lien Chuang,et al.  Room temperature slow and fast light in quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers , 2006 .

[17]  Toshihiko Baba,et al.  Slow light in photonic crystals , 2008 .

[18]  J. Joannopoulos,et al.  High Transmission through Sharp Bends in Photonic Crystal Waveguides. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[19]  J. Mørk,et al.  Active III–V semiconductor photonic crystal waveguides , 2011, 2011 13th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks.

[20]  H. Taleb,et al.  Phase Recovery Acceleration in Quantum-Dot Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers , 2012, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[21]  Liam O'Faolain,et al.  Dependence of extrinsic loss on group velocity in photonic crystal waveguides. , 2007, Optics express.

[22]  Thomas F. Krauss.  Slow light in photonic crystal waveguides , 2007 .

[23]  O. Qasaimeh,et al.  Effect of Doping on the Optical Characteristics of Quantum-Dot Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers , 2009, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[24]  Min Qiu,et al.  Effective index method for heterostructure-slab-waveguide-based two-dimensional photonic crystals , 2002 .

[25]  E. Haller,et al.  Ultra-low Threshold electrically pumped quantum dot photonic crystal nanocavity laser , 2011, CLEO 2011.

[26]  Jiun-Yun Li.  Material growth of InGaAs/InAlAs superlattices for quantum cascade laser application , 2007 .

[27]  Peter Blood,et al.  Optical mode loss and gain of multiple layer quantum dot lasers , 2001, CLEO 2001.

[28]  Jesper Mørk,et al.  Theory of passively mode-locked photonic crystal semiconductor lasers. , 2010, Optics express.

[29]  S. Mikhrin,et al.  Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics in p-doped InGaAs Quantum Dot Amplifiers , 2007, 2007 European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the International Quantum Electronics Conference.

[30]  K. Abedi,et al.  Ultrafast All-Optical Signal Processing Using Optically Pumped QDSOA-Based Mach–Zehnder Interferometers , 2013, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[31]  Hiroshi Fukuda,et al.  Low-loss Si wire waveguides and their application to thermooptic switches , 2006 .

[32]  Enhanced gain in photonic crystal amplifiers , 2012, 2012 14th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON).