1 A Mode-Locked Microchip Laser Optical Transmitter for Fiber Radio Amarildo J. C. Vieira + , Peter R. Herczfeld * , Arye Rosen * , Michael Ermold * , Eric Funk ‡ , William D. Jemison § , and Keith Williams ‡ * Center for Microwave-Lightwave Engineering Drexel University 32 nd & Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA Phone: (215) 895-2914 Fax: (215) 895-4968 § Dept. of ECE, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042 USA † SFA, Inc., Largo, MD + Motorola Broadband Communication Sector, Horsham, PA ‡ SFA, Inc., Largo, MD ‡ Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC Abstract - This paper is concerned with the optical domain generation and transmission of high-quality millimeter-wave signals for fiber-radio and other applications. The mode- locked millimeter-wave optical transmitter described here is based on simple electrooptic microchip laser technology. The transmitter can be designed to operate from a few GHz to 100 GHz and beyond. The residual phase noise of the laser is below 100 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz off-set which makes it well suited for optically fed millimeter-wave wireless applications. A key feature of the transmitter is its simplicity, the very small number of elements it employs and the high level of integration of the millimeter-wave and photonic components that results in a small, rugged and reliable package. The paper describes the design, fabrication and experimental evaluation of the transmitter. Index Terms- Microchip laser, laser mode-locking, millimeter-wave generation, fiber radio, optical transmitter.
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A Mode-Locked Microchip Laser Optical Transmitter for Fiber Radio
Amarildo J. C. Vieira+, Peter R. Herczfeld*, Arye Rosen*, Michael Ermold*, Eric Funk‡, Willi am
D. Jemison§, and Keith Willi ams‡ *Center for Microwave-Lightwave Engineering
Drexel University
32nd & Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
Phone: (215) 895-2914 Fax: (215) 895-4968 §Dept. of ECE, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042 USA
†SFA, Inc., Largo, MD +Motorola Broadband Communication Sector, Horsham, PA
‡SFA, Inc., Largo, MD ‡Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC
Abstract - This paper is concerned with the optical domain generation and transmission of
high-quality millimeter-wave signals for fiber-radio and other applications. The mode-
locked millimeter-wave optical transmitter described here is based on simple electrooptic
microchip laser technology. The transmitter can be designed to operate from a few GHz to
100 GHz and beyond. The residual phase noise of the laser is below 100 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz
off-set which makes it well suited for optically fed millimeter-wave wireless applications. A
key feature of the transmitter is its simplicity, the very small number of elements it employs
and the high level of integration of the millimeter-wave and photonic components that
results in a small, rugged and reliable package. The paper describes the design, fabrication
and experimental evaluation of the transmitter.
Index Terms- Microchip laser, laser mode-locking, millimeter-wave generation, fiber radio,
optical transmitter.
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I. INTRODUCTION
Given the increasing demand for high-speed communications, there has been growing
interest in developing techniques that can transmit microwave and/or millimeter-waves over
optical fiber. There are both commercial and military applications for this type of technology.
Commercial applications include personal communication systems (PCS) [1-3], and broadband
distribution of interactive multimedia services to the home [4-5]. Examples of military
applications include Doppler radar [6] and phased array antenna [7].
The principal advantages of the transmission of high frequency signals over fiber is low
attenuation and cost when compared to the conventional coaxial cable or radio transmission, and
the large bandwidth even when only part of the available bandwidth is exploited. For example, at
40 GHz, a 10 % bandwidth corresponds to 4 GHz, which is sufficient to allocate 4 times the
amount of bandwidth that cable TV service providers can offer. An additional advantage that
makes millimeter-wave desirable for fiber radio systems is that these frequencies are highly
attenuated by water molecules and oxygen in the atmosphere (i.e. 16 dB/Km at 60 GHz) [1].
This can be exploited to limit signal propagation within the proximity of the cell, which is
essential for wireless secure communication and for frequency reuse.
Typical fiber radio distribution system consists of a millimeter-wave optical transmitter at
the central station and numerous base stations at the picocell sites. Cost and reliabili ty issues
mandate very simple base stations with no local oscill ator or sophisticated signal processing [8].
This implies the need for an optical transmitter that can generate all the necessary optical signals
that result in the generation of high quality millimeter-waves at a photodetector output located in
the base station. Specifically, the detected signal at the base station must include the millimeter-
wave carrier with suitable modulation for wireless transmission as described in reference [8].
There are alternate methods to achieve this, including direct modulation and mode-
locking of semiconductor lasers [1, 9], external modulation [10], laser heterodyning [11], and
subharmonic optical injection locking [12]. However, these techniques usually lack in
performance or are extremely complex and costly. In this paper, a novel optical transmitter
based on a mode-locked Neodymium-doped Lithium Niobate (Nd:LiNbO3) microchip laser is
described.
The mode-locked millimeter-wave optical transmitter (M-MOT) is comprised of two
principal parts, the mode-locked microchip laser and an optical modem, as depicted in Figure 1.
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The mode-locked microchip laser has three components: the microchip laser which is housed in a
millimeter-wave cavity, the semiconductor diode array that ‘pumps’ the laser, and a millimeter-
wave source that locks the phases of the longitudinal laser modes. The output of the mode-locked
microchip laser is a train of pulses, the sum of propagating optical modes that can be represented
by the following relation:
( )ii tjitotal eII
φω −−∑=
where I i is the intensity of the i-th mode, and ωi and φi are its optical frequency and phase. The
frequency difference between the adjacent modes, ∆ω=ωi-ωi-1=ωmm is determined by the free
spectral range, which in turn is dependent on the effective length of the laser cavity. At the
output of the detector the beating of the different modes yields a millimeter-wave signal with the
frequency ωmm. The millimeter-wave locking signal assures that the modes are in phase, φj-φj-
1=0, in order to produce a very low noise millimeter-wave carrier at the detector.
Diodepump
Microchip laser in a millimeter cavity
Millimeter wavesource
Diodepump
Microchip laser in a millimeter cavity
Millimeter-wavesource
Diodepump
Microchip laser in a millimeter cavity
Millimeter wavesource
Diodepump
Microchip laser in a millimeter cavity
Millimeter-wavesource
Mode-locked microchip laser Optical Modem
Information and control signals
Mach-Zehndermodulator
Information and control signals
Mach-Zehndermodulator
Information and control signals
Mach-Zehndermodulator
Information and control signals
Mach-Zehndermodulator
TransmitterOutput
Figure 1. Block diagram of the mode-locked millimeter-wave optical transmitter (M-MOT).
The optical modem has several functions. The various information signals, namely voice,
video, data and others are organized and superimposed on the optical carrier using a Mach-
Zehnder or other suitable device. This approach promotes significant agili ty of frequency and
modulation format. Some applications require optical domain filtering which is also carried out
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at this level. In general, the optical modem would also include a detector for the signals
originating at the distributed base stations; that is not considered here.
The approach taken in the design of the microchip laser is significantly different from
past practices in two main aspects:
i. The host material for the solid-state microchip laser is an electro-optic crystal, LiNbO3,
which provides for efficient interaction between the optical and electric fields. This is
exploited for efficient mode-locking.
ii. The laser and the microwave components are fully integrated in a compact, rugged and low
cost package, which reduces parasitic effects and therefore provides for better performance.
Section II of this paper describes the design and performance of the microchip laser. This
discussion includes a general description of the laser as well as the issues involved in optimizing
the optical and microwave interaction to achieve efficient mode-locking. Several generations of
hardware development are described, each showing a successively higher level of integration.
Section III presents both optical domain and millimeter-wave domain measurement results,
which is followed by a brief section of conclusions.
II. THE MODE-LOCKED MICROCHIP LASER
The core of the mode-locked millimeter-wave optical transmitter is the solid-state
microchip laser shown in Figure 2. Microchip lasers are monolithic flat-flat optical cavities
formed by a short length of gain material with dielectric mirrors deposited directly on their
surfaces [13-15]. Since the host material, Lithium Niobate, is electro-optic, the laser chip can be
placed in a millimeter-wave cavity to facili tate effective interaction of the optical and millimeter-
waves resulting in superior mode-locking performance. Therefore, the motivation for using
microchip lasers is driven by three main factors:
i. Solid-state lasers are inherently more stable, have lower noise, and in general have a higher
output power than semiconductor lasers.
ii. The microchip configuration lends itself to a low cost, compact, short length cavity, which is
very suitable for mode-locking at high millimeter-wave frequencies.
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ii i. Solid-state lasers lend themselves to integration with the microwave subsystems, yielding a
low cost, rugged, integrated package that can be manufactured in large quantity.
DielectricMirrors
Doped ElectroopticCrystal
Mode-LockedOutput
Lc
Diode PumpBeam
Mode-LockingSignal
Figure 2. Concept of the mode-locked microchip laser.
With regard to the design of the mode-locked microchip laser emphasis was on simplicity and
minimizing the number of component employed. The following specific goals were established:
i. Efficient optical coupling of the semiconductor diode pump beam into the microchip laser
ii. Efficient coupling of the laser output into a single-mode fiber,
ii i. Optimal interaction between the millimeter-wave and optical fields
iv. Providing a simple, low noise and low cost millimeter-wave input signal for the mode
locking, and further reduction of the phase noise as required for some applications.
IIa. Microchip Laser Crystal Design
The microchip laser employs a y-cut Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) crystal as a host material,
doped with 1-atm % of Neodymium (Nd) to provide for optical gain. In addition, 5-atm % of
Magnesium Oxide (MgO) was also added to the melt before pulli ng to reduce the effects of
photorefractive damage [16]. Lithium Niobate was selected for the laser because of its excellent
optical and electro-optical properties, principally its large electro-optic coefficients. Dielectric
mirrors were directly deposited on the crystal surfaces forming an optical cavity. The length of
the laser cavity was designed to be 3.48 mm, which corresponds to a roundtrip time of 50 ps, or
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an axial mode spacing of 20 GHz, matching the desired millimeter-wave subcarrier for this
particular experiment.
IIb. Millimeter-wave Cavity Design
In order to achieve low-noise millimeter-wave generation, the microchip laser must be
mode-locked to an external millimeter-wave signal. In our work, this millimeter-wave mode-
locking signal is applied to the Nd:LiNbO3 microchip laser through a reentrant microwave cavity
as indicated in Figure 3.
Pump Beam
Output Beam
Coarse Tuning
Cavity Tuning Cylinder
Microchip laserin cavity gap
Center Cylinder
Figure 3. Reentrant microwave cavity.
The reentrant coaxial cavity was designed to be resonant at 20 GHz. The basic design
used a transmission line analysis where the cavity is modeled as a shorted length of loss-less
coaxial transmission line that is terminated by the capacitance of the gap between the center
conductor and the bottom of the cavity [17]. The cavity length is selected such that the input
impedance of the shorted transmission line provides an inductance that cancels the gap
capacitance at the desired resonant frequency of 20 GHz. Both the fringing capacitance of the
gap [18] and the capacitance of the solid-state laser chip are included in this analysis. Thus, a
first order approximation of the required cavity length is obtained.
The mechanical design allows both course and fine frequency tuning by providing cavity
length adjustment about the nominal value and by a tuning screw in the side wall of the cavity as
shown in Figure 3. In addition, the mechanical design also incorporates an alignment groove in
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the bottom of the cavity to facili tate the alignment of the laser chip and input and output optics.
The 20 GHz signal is coupled into the cavity by a small loop probe located on the cavity
sidewall. In addition, a temperature sensor and a thermoelectric cooler were incorporated into
the microwave cavity in order to keep the cavity and the laser at a fixed temperature.
IIc. Microchip Laser Mode Locking
In order to facili tate efficient mode-locking, it is desired to optimize the interaction
between the optical and millimeter-wave fields within the solid state laser crystal. Since the
single Nd:LiNbO3 laser chip provides both the gain medium for lasing and electro-optic
properties for mode-locking, the laser chip is placed in the center of the gap between the center
conductor and the bottom of the cavity where the electric field is highest. This location will
provide the strongest electro-optic interaction and should provide the best mode-locking
performance. However, it should also be noted that mode-locking theory is not developed for this
case where both the gain (for lasing) and electro-optic (for mode-locking) properties are in the
same medium and occupy the entire laser cavity. Therefore, there is some uncertainty with
respect to the field distribution required within the crystal for optimum mode-locking.
In order to gain insight into the mode-locking, a finite element computer simulation of
the laser and cavity was initiated using a commercially available High Frequency Structure
Simulator (HFSS). The reentrant cavity, solid state laser chip, alignment groove, coupling probe,
and tuning screw are all incorporated into the model. The simulated resonance frequencies for
this model are accurate to within 1% of the measured values determined via an S11 measurement
as shown in Figure 4. The electric field distributions in the reentrant cavity and laser chip were
also computed for the dominant mode at 19.85 GHz. The z-component of the electric field for
this mode corresponding to an x-y plane cut through the center of the laser chip is shown in
Figure 5. The field distribution is stronger in the laser chip than in the open cavity as desired.
This is expected since the dielectric constant of the laser chip is high (26 in the z-direction). The
field concentration is symmetric along the longitudinal axis of the laser chip with the highest
field concentration occurring at the center of the laser. It is expected that the insight gained from
these and ongoing simulations will ultimately lead to a complete mode locking theory for this
unique laser.
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Figure 4. Measured S11 of the reentrant cavity with the microchip laser. Dotted lines indicate
simulated resonant frequencies.
Cavity inside wall
Center Cylinder
Loop Antenna
Microchip laser in cavity gap
Tuning Screw
Microchip laser
(a) (b)
Figure 5. (a) Simulated z-component of electric field inside the microwave cavity. X-Y plane is
located at the center of the laser chip. (b) Simulated z-component of the electric field inside the
microchip laser. X-Y plane is located at the center of the chip
IId. System integration
During the development of the M-MOT transmitter the issues outlined earlier were
systematically addressed, leading to three different mode-locked microchip laser packaging
9
configurations. Each generation used the same laser chip and basic reentrant cavity design.
However, each successive configuration employed a higher level of integration. The three
generations of laser hardware development are discussed below.
First Generation – baseline design: The main issue addressed in the first transmitter generation
was the optical alignment. The alignment of the pump beam and the collimation of the laser
output are critical to the transmitter performance. The pump for this generation was an external
semiconductor pump laser diode operating at 814 nm with an output power of 280 mW. The
pump beam is coupled to the microchip laser through a fiber imbedded in a ceramic sleeve. The
ceramic sleeve is aligned with the collimator and the laser placed in between them into an
alignment grove designed to aid in the mechanical alignment of the semiconductor laser chip.
The picture for this packaging is shown in Figure 6. The microchip laser output was coupled to a
single-mode fiber using a fiber collimator. The mode-locking signal was obtained from an
external frequency synthesizer or a Gunn oscill ator.
Output fiber
Input fiber
Coarse Tuning
Fine Tuning
Figure 6. Packaged unit with an external pumping scheme.
Second Generation – integrated mm-wave source: Millimeter-wave generation with good
stabili ty and noise performance was obtained using the baseline configuration previously
described. However, while external synthesizers provide good millimeter-wave performance,
they are bulky and costly. Therefore, the transmitter second generation emphasized the
replacement of the synthesizer with compact, low cost millimeter-wave signal sources. One of
the options that were investigated involves the use of an external Gunn oscill ator. Its noise and
power levels are compatible with the requirements of the M-MOT. Moreover, since the Gunn
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oscill ator and the reentrant microwave cavity have basically the same structure, they can both be
mounted together, leading to a more compact configuration. The RF power injected for mode
locking is +10dBm. The optical transmitter, which is comprised of these two cavities, forms a
small, rugged package. The spectra of the free-running and mode-locked signals are depicted in
Figure 7. The phase noise is adequate for many communications applications, but can be
improved by using a lower phase-noise source such as a dielectric resonator oscill ator. Efforts
are currently underway to integrate a low noise Gunn oscill ator into the microchip laser housing
that will result in further size reduction.
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Microwave spectrum of the laser output for (a) free-running and (b) mode-locked
microchip laser.
Third Generation – integrated pump: The third generation of the transmitter is already designed
and under test. It is a more compact configuration with an internal semiconductor pump. A laser
diode chip is incorporated into the reentrant microwave cavity as shown in Figure 8. With this
approach only one temperature controller is used to stabili ze the pump and reentrant cavity. Once
again, the pump beam and the collimator are aligned, and the laser chip is adjacent to the pump.
This configuration is easier to work with and allows for systematic repeatabili ty.
These efforts in system integration resulted in an integrated package housed in a rugged
cavity that is comprised of the laser chip, two active components, namely the diode pump and the
Gunn diode each driven by single DC inputs, one temperature controller, and one optical output.
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Laser DiodeChip
MicrochipLaser
AlignmentGrove (b)
Figure 8. (a) Shows the packaged unit with millimeter-wave input and optical output. (b) Depicts
the inside of the cavity, with the top removed. The pump diodes are permanently affixed and the
laser chip is inserted into the grove.
III. EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MODE-LOCKED
MICROCHIP LASER
A thorough characterization of the mode-locked optical transmitter requires
measurements in both the optical and millimeter-wave domains. This section describes the tests
performed in both of these domains.
The 20GHz mode-locking signal from a Gunn oscill ator or a synthesizer was applied to
the reentrant microwave cavity. The microwave frequency was set to correspond to the free
spectral range of the laser and the microwave cavity was adjusted to resonate at this particular
frequency. The mode-locked laser output was applied to an optical spectral analyzer, microwave
spectrum analyzer and high frequency sampling oscill oscope for the optical, microwave, and
time domain measurements, respectively.
IIIa. Optical and Time Domain Characterization
The optical spectrum of the mode-locked laser was measured using an optical spectrum
analyzer with a resolution of 0.05nm (i.e. 12.8GHz) at 1.084µm. The result, shown in Figure 9,
reveals stable modes 20GHz apart that displays a very stable and well -defined structure, with a
Lorentzian-like distribution.
For the time domain measurement, the mode-locked longitudinal modes, detected by a
high speed InGaAs Schottky photodiode (New Focus model 1014), was fed into a high
frequency sampling oscill oscope (Tektronix model CSA 803). Figure 10 depicts the waveform
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obtained when a 12.6dBm mode-locking signal was applied to the reentrant microwave cavity.
The waveform corresponds to a train of optical pulses with 18.6ps width and 20GHz repetition
rate. The shape of these pulses is limited (broadened) by the bandwidth of the measuring
instrumentation due to attenuation of higher order harmonics.
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Pow
er (
mW
)
1085.51085.01084.51084.0
Wavelength (nm)
Figure 9. Optical spectrum of the mode-locked laser output. The resolution is 0.05nm.
Figure 10. Time domain measurement of the mode-locked laser output. The upper trace is the
driving signal and the lower trace corresponds to the laser pulse. The pulsewidth measured was
18.6 ps.
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IIIb. Millimeter-Wave Domain Characterization
The corresponding microwave domain signal, after the mode-locked modes are beaten in
a high-speed photodetector, is shown in Figure 11. As in the previous measurement, a very stable
signal with peak output at 20GHz was observed. The –23dBc side-bands at 350 kHz off-set
frequency are due to the laser relaxation oscill ation. We intend to suppress these by employing
feedback control to the pump laser. Peak suppression of better than 30dB has been reported in