ERC-opvangmandaat: All-optical sub-THz signal filtering with multi-COLOR lasers (FWOAL914)

While Information and Communication Technology always needs faster, more efficient and more compact systems, MicroWave Photonics (MWP) has been delivering them in the shape of on-chip devices with outstanding performances. Yet, some stringent limitations form a roadblock for disruptive specifications: for instance, on-chip MWP frequency filters hardly perform beyond 60 GHz, whereas the technology and applications demand frequencies in the sub-THz range(>>100 GHz). Indeed, this frequency domain will directly benefit future short-range ultra-fast telecommunication techniques and enable compact millimetre-precision radars compatible with robotic and autonomous systems.With COLOR'UP, my goal is to remove this frequency roadblock by exploring and implementing on-chip a radically new concept exploiting the nonlinear dynamics of multi-colour lasers. These lasers naturally generate a set of sharp beat-notes in the sub-THz range corresponding to the frequency separation between the different wavelengths. Injecting an optical beam in a multi-colour laser with a modulation at the right frequencies can lead to injection-locking of all wavelengths simultaneously. Frequency components not matching the beat-notes will however not be picked up and will be entirely filtered out in the laser output.In this project, I will demonstrate that this effect can be exploited to create on-chip all-optical MWP bandpass filters with the capability to cover the entire sub-THz range, up to a few THz. My goals are four-fold: (1) design and realize multi-colour lasers with tailored spectra to achieve filtering at precise frequencies; (2) study the underlying filtering mechanism to optimize the filter performances; (3) develop on-chip control techniques based on optical feedback to control the filter properties; (4) make a Proof-of-Concept demonstration of the filter on an InP photonic integrated circuit emitting in the telecom band, i.e. at a wavelength around 1.55 um.

Keywords:Lasers

Disciplines:Optical fibre communications