Disclosure of Invention
The embodiment of the application provides a frequency division and frequency multiplication generation method and device, and solves the problems of complex structure, high cost, low precision and low integration level of the frequency division and frequency multiplication device.
On one hand, the embodiment of the application provides a frequency division and frequency multiplication generating device, which comprises a front-end laser, a phase area, a rear-end laser, a single-mode optical fiber, a photoelectric detector and a radio-frequency cable.
The front-end laser, the phase area and the rear-end laser are integrated on the same substrate in sequence. The front-end laser and the rear-end laser are connected through a phase region to realize mutual injection; the front-end laser and the rear-end laser have different working wavelengths; the phase area is formed by active waveguide, the length of the phase area is 200-300 mu m, the coupling strength and the coupling phase between the front-end laser and the rear-end laser are tuned through electrodes, and the light injection ratio of the front-end laser and the rear-end laser is changed; the driving signal of the front-end laser or the rear-end laser is a modulation signal, and the frequency division or the frequency multiplication of the microwave is realized by adjusting the frequency of the modulation signal; the output light of the rear-end laser is led out through the single-mode optical fiber, converted into a microwave signal through the photoelectric detector and output through the radio-frequency cable.
Preferably, the front-end laser and the back-end laser are DFB lasers fabricated with a reconstruction-equivalent chirp technique.
Preferably, the front-end laser, the phase region and the back-end laser have the same epitaxial material and structure; the material epitaxial structure is obtained by epitaxial growth of a material through a traditional second-order metal organic compound chemical vapor deposition method, and comprises an n-type substrate, an n-type buffer layer, an n-type limiting layer, a strain multi-quantum well layer, a p-type limiting layer, a grating material layer, a p-type cladding layer, a p-type ohmic contact layer, a p-type waveguide layer, an insulating layer and positive and negative electrodes.
Preferably, a first electrical isolation region is arranged between the front-end laser and the phase region, and a second electrical isolation region is arranged between the phase region and the back-end laser.
Preferably, the first electrical isolation region, the second electrical isolation region, the front-end laser, the phase region and the back-end laser share the same ridge waveguide structure;
preferably, the first electrically isolated region and the second electrically isolated region are formed by etching away the grating structure and the ohmic contact layer using an electron beam lithography technique.
Preferably, the lengths of the first electrical isolation region and the second electrical isolation region are both in the range of 30-80 μm.
Preferably, the epitaxial material adopted by the front-end laser, the phase region and the back-end laser is at least one of III-V group compound semiconductor material, II-VI group compound semiconductor material, IV-VI group compound semiconductor material and aluminum-doped semiconductor material.
Preferably, the front-end laser and the back-end laser have a wavelength separation <0.5 nm.
On the other hand, the present application further provides a frequency division and multiplication generating method for a device according to any of the embodiments of the present application, comprising the following steps:
adjusting the direct current bias current of the front-end laser and/or the back-end laser, and changing the frequency interval and the light injection ratio between the front-end laser and the back-end laser to enable the device to work in a double-period oscillation state;
under the double-period oscillation state, enabling oscillation optical signals generated by the combined action of the front-end laser and the rear-end laser to be mutually locked;
changing the frequency of the modulation signal, directly modulating the front-end laser or the rear-end laser by the modulation signal, and realizing the frequency doubling of the microwave when the frequency of the modulation signal injected by the frequency source is gradually close to the double-period oscillation frequency; and when the frequency of the microwave is gradually close to the detuning frequency, the frequency division of the microwave is realized.
The embodiment of the application adopts at least one technical scheme which can achieve the following beneficial effects: the frequency division and frequency multiplication generating device is simple in implementation method, the generated microwave signal is high in spectrum purity, strong in accuracy, compact in structure, stable in performance and low in cost, and the monolithic integrated mutual injection laser is low in cost. The defects of more traditional discrete devices, large volume of an injection system, complex structure, poor stability and the like are overcome; the control precision of the detuning frequency of the two lasers is improved, the producibility and the yield of the monolithic integrated laser are improved, and the manufacturing difficulty and the manufacturing cost are reduced. And modulating the front-end laser and the rear-end laser by using the injected radio frequency signal with lower cost and low quality to realize high-quality frequency division and frequency multiplication signal generation.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail and completely with reference to the following specific embodiments of the present application and the accompanying drawings. It should be apparent that the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.
The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a frequency division and multiplication generating device based on a monolithic integrated mutual injection laser.
The embodiment of the application provides a frequency division and frequency multiplication generating device, which comprises a front-end laser 1, a phase area 2, a rear-end laser 3, a single-mode optical fiber 4, a photoelectric detector 5 and a radio-frequency cable 6.
The front-end laser, the phase area and the rear-end laser are integrated on the same substrate in sequence. The front-end laser and the rear-end laser are connected through a phase region to realize mutual injection; the front-end laser and the rear-end laser have different working wavelengths; the phase area is formed by active waveguide, the length of the phase area is 200-300 mu m, and the coupling strength and the coupling phase between the front-end laser and the rear-end laser are tuned through the electrode, so that the light injection ratio of the front-end laser and the rear-end laser is changed. The driving signal of the front-end laser or the rear-end laser is a modulation signal, and frequency division or frequency multiplication of the microwave is realized by adjusting the frequency of the modulation signal. The output light of the rear-end laser is led out through the single-mode optical fiber, converted into a microwave signal through the photoelectric detector and output through the radio-frequency cable.
In the prior art, the integrated laser is manufactured by combining an active waveguide and a passive waveguide, and the manufacturing process is complex. The phase region of the embodiment of the application only uses the active waveguide, and complex active and passive waveguide combination in the manufacturing process of the integrated laser is avoided.
The light of the front-end laser is injected into the rear-end laser through the phase area, the light of the rear-end laser is injected into the front-end laser through the phase area, and the two lasers are injected into each other, so that the physical characteristics (modulation bandwidth is increased, threshold current is reduced, and electro-optic conversion efficiency is improved) of the two lasers are changed. The concentration of carriers in the phase region can be changed by tuning the current of the phase region, so that the change of the refractive index is realized, the change of the optical path of light propagating in the phase region is promoted, and the control of the phase and the intensity of light excited by the front-end laser and the rear-end laser is realized.
In addition, a section of pi phase shift is added to the center of each of the grating structures of the front-end laser and the rear-end laser, so that the single-mode performance of the front-end laser and the rear-end laser can be effectively improved. In the manufacturing process, the wavelength of light excited by the front-end laser in the free oscillation state is smaller than that of light excited by the rear-end laser in the free oscillation state, so that the monolithic integrated laser can realize injection locking.
In an embodiment of the application, the monolithic integrated laser is packaged by a standard butterfly, and has 7 pins, the temperature of the integrated laser and the current of two laser areas and a phase area are respectively controlled, in the packaging process, a chip of the monolithic integrated laser is dissociated, and a high-reflection film and an antireflection film are respectively coated on two sides of the integrated laser, so that more light is fed back to one side of the rear-end laser, the power of the output light of the monolithic integrated laser is improved, and in the integrated laser, the output light is finally output from a rear-end laser port.
As shown in fig. 1, an externally injected modulation signal 71, a monolithically integrated front-end laser 1, a phase section 2, a monolithically integrated back-end laser 3, an externally injected modulation signal 72, a single mode fiber 4, a photodetector 5, and a radio frequency cable 6. In the above configuration, the monolithically integrated front-end laser, back-end laser, and phase region located between the two lasers constitute a main structure of the monolithically integrated laser.
It should be noted that, in order to enable the device of the present invention to operate in the bi-periodic oscillation state, the wavelength interval between the front-end laser and the back-end laser is <0.5 nm. The "dual-period oscillation state" in this document refers to an oscillation state that the front-end laser and the back-end laser jointly enter under the condition of mutual light injection, and the generated dual-period oscillation optical signal is similar to frequency modulation on the main oscillation optical wavelength of the two lasers in spectrum view, and the modulation frequency is the dual-period oscillation frequency. Generally, the modulation signal generated by the beat frequency of the photodetector includes the detuned frequency components of the front-end laser and the back-end laser and their corresponding subharmonic components (or called as bi-periodic oscillation frequency components), and has a large bandwidth tuning range, but the modulation signal generated by the beat frequency is poor in quality due to the nonlinear effect of the injection locked laser.
It should be noted that the modulation signals 71 and 72 may be simultaneously injected into the front-end laser or the back-end laser respectively through the rf ports, or only the modulation signal 71 may be injected into the front-end laser or only the modulation signal 72 may be injected into the back-end laser. If the front-end laser and the back-end laser are injected simultaneously, the frequencies of the modulation signals 71 and 72 to be injected need to be identical.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a monolithically integrated laser structure.
The front-end laser, the phase region and the rear-end laser share the same ridge waveguide structure. The front-end laser 1, the phase region 2 and the rear-end laser 3 have the same epitaxial material and structure. The material epitaxial structure is obtained by epitaxial growth of a material through a traditional second-order metal organic compound chemical vapor deposition method, and comprises an n-type substrate, an n-type buffer layer, an n-type limiting layer, a strain multi-quantum well layer, a p-type limiting layer, a grating material layer, a p-type cladding layer, a p-type ohmic contact layer, a p-type waveguide layer, an insulating layer and positive and negative electrodes.
For example, the front-end laser and the back-end laser are DFB lasers fabricated using a reconstruction-equivalent chirp technique. A first electric isolation region 8 is arranged between the front-end laser and the phase region, and a second electric isolation region 9 is arranged between the phase region and the rear-end laser. The first electric isolation region, the second electric isolation region, the front-end laser, the phase region and the rear-end laser share the same ridge waveguide structure. The first electrical isolation region and the second electrical isolation region are formed by etching away the grating structure and the ohmic contact layer by electron beam etching.
The lengths of the first electrical isolation region and the second electrical isolation region are both within the range of 30-80 μm. The length is less than 30 μm, so that the electric isolation region prevents the electrodes of the front-end laser and the phase region, and the phase region and the back-end laser from interfering with each other.
The monolithically integrated three-segment laser comprises in material structure: an n-type substrate 10; an n-type buffer layer 11; an n-type confinement layer 12; a strained multi-quantum well layer 13; a p-type confinement layer 14; a layer of grating material 15; a p-type cladding layer 16; a p-type highly doped ohmic contact layer 17; SiO 22An insulating layer 18; a front-end laser positive electrode 19; phase section positive electrodes 20; a back-end laser positive electrode 21; and a negative electrode 22.
In the frequency division and frequency multiplication generating apparatus according to any embodiment of the present application, the front-end laser, the phase section, and the back-end laser are made of at least one of III-V compound semiconductor material, II-VI compound semiconductor material, IV-VI compound semiconductor material, and aluminum-doped semiconductor material.
Fig. 3 is a typical spectrum diagram of the double-period oscillation state of the integrated laser.
fmIs the main oscillator mode of the front-end laser, fsIn the main mode of the back-end laser, the frequency difference (or detuning frequency) between the front-end laser and the back-end laser is fr(ii) a In the double-period oscillation state of the monolithic integrated mutual injection laser, the generated oscillation optical signal is similar to a multi-level optical sideband generated by modulating the frequency of the modulation signal at the main oscillation mode of the front-end laser and the back-end laser, and the modulation frequency is double-period oscillation frequency f0(f0=0.5×fr). Preferably, in the frequency division and frequency multiplication generating device, the frequency of the modulation signal injected into the front-end laser or the rear-end laser is a detuned frequency or a bi-periodic oscillation frequency, so that injection locking of each lightwave signal in a bi-periodic oscillation state is realized, and high quality is obtained by beat frequency of the photodetectorFrequency divided and frequency multiplied signals.
Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the practical effects of the frequency division and frequency multiplication method of the present invention.
The driving signal of the front-end laser or the rear-end laser is a modulation signal, and the frequency of the modulation signal injected into the front-end laser or the rear-end laser is a detuning frequency f by adjusting the frequency of the modulation signalrThen the output frequency is a dual-period oscillation frequency f through the frequency dividing and frequency multiplying device0The modulation signal of (2) to realize microwave frequency division; making the frequency of the modulation signal injected into the front-end laser or the back-end laser be a bicycle oscillation frequency f0Then, the frequency is output as a modulation signal f of detuning frequency by a frequency dividing and multiplying devicerAnd realizing microwave frequency doubling.
It should be noted that the modulation signal may be injected into the front-end laser and/or the back-end laser through the rf port. Only one of the front-end laser or the back-end laser needs to be injected at a time, and if the front-end laser and the back-end laser are injected simultaneously, the frequencies of modulation signals to be injected are consistent.
FIG. 5 is a control flow chart of the frequency division and multiplication generation method of the present invention. The apparatus according to any of the embodiments of the present application, comprising the steps of:
step 101, adjusting a direct current bias current of the front-end laser and/or the back-end laser, and changing a frequency interval and a light injection ratio between the front-end laser and the back-end laser to enable the device to work in a double-period oscillation state;
in step 101, a reconstruction-equivalent chirp technology is adopted to design and manufacture the front-end laser and the back-end laser, so as to realize accurate regulation and control of the working wavelength of the monolithic integrated laser; in addition, in the specific implementation, the magnitude of the bias current of the phase region between the two laser regions needs to be carefully tuned, so as to further finely regulate the detuning frequency effect between the front-end laser and the back-end laser.
102, changing the frequency of the modulation signal in a double-period oscillation state to enable oscillation optical signals generated by the combined action of the front-end laser and the rear-end laser to be mutually locked; directly modulating the front-end laser and/or the rear-end laser by using a modulation signal, and realizing the frequency doubling of the microwave when the frequency of the modulation signal injected by the frequency source is gradually close to the double-period oscillation frequency; and when the frequency of the microwave is gradually close to the detuning frequency, the frequency division of the microwave is realized.
For example, the modulation signal may be applied to the front-end laser or the back-end laser.
Note that, in the present application: the modulation frequency of the modulation signal is the detuning frequency or the double-period oscillation frequency of the front-end laser and the back-end laser, and the double-period oscillation frequency is half of the detuning frequency of the front-end laser and the back-end laser.
The invention provides a frequency division and frequency multiplication generating device with compact structure and stable performance and an implementation method thereof, and the used monolithic integrated laser is implemented at low cost. The invention realizes the double-period oscillation of the DFB laser by using a monolithic integrated laser mode, and overcomes the defects of more discrete devices, large volume of an injection system, complex structure, poor stability and the like in the prior art.
In the embodiment of the invention, the reconstruction-equivalent chirp technology is utilized to manufacture the grating of the monolithic integrated DFB laser, the wavelength of the two lasers can be accurately controlled by controlling the sampling grating period with the magnitude of mum, and the control precision of the detuning frequency is improved, so that the producibility and the yield of the double-period oscillation state of the monolithic integrated laser are improved, and the manufacturing difficulty and the manufacturing cost of the monolithic integrated laser are reduced.
It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
The above description is only an example of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Various modifications and changes may occur to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of the claims of the present application.