Wavelength-selectable laser device and apparatus and system including same

摘要

A wavelength-selectable laser device generally includes an array of laser emitters and a filtered external cavity for filtering light emitted from the laser emitters and reflecting different wavelengths back to each of the laser emitters such that lasing occurs at different wavelengths for each of the laser emitters. Each laser emitter includes a gain region that emits light across a plurality of wavelengths including, for example, channel wavelengths in an optical communication system. The filtered external cavity may include a dispersive optical element that receives the light from each of the laser emitters at different angles and passes or reflects different wavelengths of the light at different angles such that only wavelengths associated with the respective laser emitters are reflected back to the respective laser emitters. By selectively emitting light from one or more of the laser emitters, one or more channel wavelengths may be selected for lasing and transmission.

主权项

1. A wavelength-selectable laser device, comprising:
an array of laser emitters, each of the laser emitters including a gain region for emitting light across a range of wavelengths including a plurality of channel wavelengths and a back reflector for reflecting light from the laser emitters, wherein each of the laser emitters is associated with a single channel wavelength; and a filtered external cavity coupled to the laser emitters, the filtered external cavity being configured to filter light received from respective ones of the laser emitters at different respective channel wavelengths for the respective ones of the laser emitters and configured to reflect at least a portion of the light at the respective channel wavelengths back to the gain region in the respective ones of the laser emitters such that a lasing cavity is formed with the filtered external cavity and at least one selected laser emitter of the laser emitters and lasing occurs at respective at least one selected channel wavelength(s) reflected back to the gain region of the at least one selected laser emitter, wherein only the single channel wavelength associated with a respective one of the laser emitters is reflected back to the respective one of the laser emitters for lasing; wherein the filtered external cavity comprises: a dispersive optical element configured to receive multiple light beams emitted from the respective ones of the laser emitters such that each of the light beams is incident on the dispersive optical element at different angles to reflect or pass different channel wavelengths within each of the light beams at different angles; and a front reflector configured to receive a different channel wavelength passed or reflected by the dispersive optical element for each of the respective ones of the laser emitters and configured to reflect the different channel wavelengths, respectively, back to the gain region in the respective ones of the laser emitters such that the lasing cavity is formed between the front reflector and the back reflector of the at least one selected laser emitter.