160-GHz Actively Mode-Locked Semiconductor Laser and Its Application to Optical Clock Recovery

Abstract

A 160-GHz optical pulse train was generated by a semiconductor mode-locked laser integrated with a highmesa EA modulator synchronized with 80-GHz electrical signal. The timing jitter is suppressed to about 0.12 ps for RF input powers larger than 10 dBm. Furthermore, a 160-GHz optical clock is recovered from a 160-Gbit/s signal using a similar mode-locked laser diode in a wide wavelength range. The wide locking range was obtained for both lasers due to the integrated chirped distributed Bragg reflector.