Distributed Feedback (DFB) lasers and integrated laser arrays are of great importance in Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) systems in fiber optic communication systems. High-performance, low-cost DFB lasers and laser arrays are highly desirable for applications in intra-datacenter transport and in local access networks. This dissertation is focused on the design, fabrication and achievement of high-performance, low-cost DFB Lasers and Integrated DFB Arrays for WDM Systems. It investigates the use of a novel sampled grating approach, called the equivalent phase shift method, to achieve integrated DFB laser arrays with single-mode lasing at uniformly-spaced and precisely-positioned wavelengths. First, laterally-Coupled DFB (LC-DFB) lasers with first-order sidewall gratings are realized, with gratings fabricated by optical interference lithography instead of e-beam. Then, LC-DFB lasers and LC-DFB laser arrays with sampled gratings and equivalent phase shifts are proposed, numerically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. Each LC-DFB laser with an equivalent quarter-wave phase shift is shown to lase at the pre-specified wavelength in a single longitudinal mode, with good side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) over a very wide range of injection currents. Integrated LC-DFB laser arrays with five uniformly-spaced wavelength channels are demonstrated, in close agreement with the design. For better performance, buried heterostructure (BH)-DFB laser and laser arrays are also demonstrated using the same sampled-grating technology. A 6-wavelenth laser array with a 300 μm cavity length and a 8-wavelength laser array with 250 μm cavity length are successively demonstrated, each showing precisely positioned lasing wavelengths, good SMSR, and uniformly good lasing characteristics under a wide range of operating currents and temperatures. Finally, it is demonstrated that the wavelength of a monolithic WDM laser array can be continuously tuned over a very wide wavelength range of nearly 40 nm. The proposed method offers a practical and cost-effective solution for the manufacture of high-performance, monolithic multi-wavelength DFB laser arrays as well as widely wavelength-tunable DFB lasers for integrated WDM systems.

Le déploiement des réseaux optiques d'accés et métropolitains à crée un besoin incessant de débits élevés et de portées étendues. Une demande pour des sources optiques compactes, polyvalentes, de bas coût et de consommation réduite a vu le jour dans ce contexte. Le but de cette thèse consiste à étudier expérimentalement et par la simulation deux techniques pour combattre les effets de la dispersion chromatique à travers l’ingénierie du chirp de la source. La première technique concerne les lasers DFB (Distributed Feedback Laser) modulés directement. Premièrement, un modèle complet et flexible d’un laser DFB développé au cours de la thèse a été exploité pour confirmer l’étude expérimentale des effets de phases du réseau de Bragg aux facettes sur le comportement du chirp. Les résultats ont montré l’existence de deux familles de lasers définies suivant la position du mode d’émission par rapport à la bande interdite. Deuxiémement, une étude théorique et expérimentale a montré la stabilisation et le contrôle du chirp des lasers DFB via la présence d'une rétroaction optique externe bien ajustée. La deuxième technique concerne le concept de la modulation duale des lasers modulateurs intégrés (D-EML : Dual Electroabsorption Modulated Laser) exploitant l’ajustement de la dérive en fréquence résultant de la juxtaposition d’une modulation de fréquence appliquée sur le laser et une modulation d’intensité appliquée sur le modulateur. L’évaluation expérimentale et théorique des performances du D-EML a permis de prouver sa compatibilité aux hauts débits (20, 25 et 40 Gb/s) ainsi que son efficacité par rapport à la modulation simple de l’EAM (Electro-Absorption Modulator). / Today, new higher-speed, low cost and low consumption optical sources are becoming a necessity for the deployment of access and metropolitan networks.The aim of this thesis is to study experimentally and by simulation two techniques in order to combat the chromatic dispersion effects through the chirp engineering of the source. The first technique concerns directly modulated DFB (Distributed FeedBack) lasers. First, a complete and flexible model of a DFB laser developed during the thesis has been used to confirm the experimental study of the facet phase effect on the chirp behavior. The results showed the existence of two laser’s families according to the position of the lasing mode with respect to the bandgap. Second, a theoretical and experimental study showed the chirp stabilization and control of DFB lasers due to the presence of a well adjusted external optical feedback.The second technique concerns the dual modulation concept of integrated modulated laser (D-EML : Dual Electroabsorption Modulated Laser) exploiting the adjustment of the chirp resulting from the juxtaposition of the frequency modulation applied to the laser and the intensity modulation applied to the modulator. Experimental and theoretical evalutation of D-EML performances has proven its compatibitlity with high bit-rates (20, 25 and 40 Gb/s) and its effectiveness with respect to the simple modulation of the EAM (Electroabsorption Modulator).

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There is an increasing need for tuneable spectrally pure semiconductor laser sources as well as broadband and polarization insensitive semiconductor optical amplifiers based on the InGaASP/InP material system, to be monolithically integrated with other active and passive components in a photonic integrated circuit. This thesis aims to contribute to finding a solution through modelling, experimental characterization and design improvements. In this thesis we have analyzed laterally-coupled distributed feedback (LC-DFB) lasers. These lasers have the gratings etched directly out of the ridge sidewalls thus lowering the cost associated with the re-growth process required if the gratings were otherwise embedded above the active region. The performance characteristics are analyzed for the LC-DFB lasers partitioned into 1-, 2-, and 3-, electrodes with individual bias control at various operating temperatures. The laser exhibits a stable single mode emission at 1560 nm with a current tuning rate of ~14 pm/mA for a tuning of 2.25 nm. The side modes are highly suppressed with a maximum side-mode suppression ratio of 58 dB. The light-current characteristics show a minimum 40 mA threshold current, and power saturation occurring at higher injection currents. The linewidth characteristics show a minimum Lorentzian linewidth of 210 kHz under free-running and further linewidth reduction under feedback operation. The multi-electrode LC-DFB laser devices under appropriate and selective driving conditions exhibit a flat frequency modulation response from 0 to above 300 MHz. The multi-electrode configuration can thus be further exploited for certain requirements. Simulation results and design improvements are also presented. The experimental characterization of semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and Fabry-Perot (FP) laser operating in the E-band are also presented. For the SOA, the linear vertical and horizontal states of polarization corresponding to the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes were considered. For various input power and bias, performance characteristics shows a peak gain of 21 dBm at 1360 nm, gain bandwidth of 60 nm and polarization sensitivity of under 3 dB obtained for the entire wavelength range analyzed from 1340 to 1440 nm. The analysis presented in this thesis show good results with room for improvement in future designs.

Le substrat SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) constitue aujourd’hui le support de choix pour la fabrication de fonctions optiques compactes. Cette plateforme commune avec la micro-électronique favorise l’intégration de circuits photoniques avec des circuits CMOS. Néanmoins, si le silicium peut être utilisé de manière très avantageuse pour la fabrication de composants optiques passifs, il présente l’inconvénient d’être un très mauvais émetteur de lumière. Ceci constitue un obstacle majeur au développement de sources d’émission laser, briques de constructions indispensables à la fabrication d’un circuit photonique. La solution exploitée dans le cadre de cette thèse consiste à reporter sur SOI des épitaxies laser III-V par collage direct SiO2-SiO2. L’objectif est de réaliser sur SOI des sources lasers à cavité horizontale permettant d’injecter au moins 1mW de puissance dans un guide d’onde silicium inclus dans le SOI. Notre démarche est de transférer un maximum des fonctions du laser vers le silicium, dont les procédés sont familiers au monde de la micro-électronique. Dans l’idéal, le III-V ne devrait être utilisé que comme matériau à gain ; la cavité laser pouvant être fabriquée dans le silicium. Mais cette ligne de conduite n’est pas forcément aisée à mettre en œuvre. En effet, les photons sont produits dans le III-V mais doivent être injectés dans un guide silicium placé sous l’épitaxie. La difficulté est que les deux matériaux sont séparés par plus d’une centaine de nanomètres d’oxyde de collage faisant obstacle au transfert de photons. Le développement de lasers III-V couplés à un guide d’onde SOI demande alors de nouvelles conceptions du système laser dans son ensemble. Notre travail a donc consisté à concevoir un laser hybride III-IV / silicium se pliant aux contraintes technologiques du collage. En s’appuyant sur la théorie des modes couplés et les concepts des cristaux photoniques, nous avons imaginé, réalisé, puis caractérisé un laser à contre-réaction distribuée hybride (en anglais : « distributed feedback laser », laser DFB). Son fonctionnement optique original, permet à la fois un maximum de gain et d’efficacité de couplage grâce à une circulation en boucle des photons du guide III-V au guide SOI. Sur ces dispositifs, nous montrons une émission laser monomode (SMSR de 35 dB) à température ambiante en pompage optique et électrique pulsé. Comme attendu, la longueur d’onde d’émission est dépendante du pas de réseau DFB. Les lasers fonctionnent avec une épaisseur de collage de silice de 200 nm, ce qui offre une grande souplesse quant au procédé d’intégration. Tous les lasers fonctionnent jusqu’à des longueurs de 150 μm (la plus petite longueur prévue sur le masque). Malgré les faibles niveaux de puissances récoltés dans la fibre lors des caractérisations, la prise en compte des pertes optiques induites pas les coupleurs fibres nous indique que la puissance réellement injectée dans le guide silicium dépasse le milliwatt. Notre objectif de ce point de vue est donc rempli. Malheureusement le fonctionnement des lasers en injection électrique continue n’a pas pu être obtenu dans les délais impartis. Cependant, les faibles densités de courant de seuil mesurées en injection pulsée (300A / cm2 à température ambiante sur les lasers de 550 μm de long) laissent présager un fonctionnement prochain en courant continu. / Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) is today the utmost platform for the fabrication of compact optical functions. This common platform with microelectronics favors the integration of photonic circuits with CMOS circuits. Nevertheless, if silicon allows for the fabrication of compact passive photonic functions, its poor light emission properties constitute a major obstacle to the development of an integrated laser source. The solution used within the framework of this thesis consists in integrating III-IV laser stacks on 200 mm SOI wafers by the mean of SiO2-SiO2 direct bonding. The aim of this work is to demonstrate a III-V on SOI laser that couples at least 1mW to a silicon waveguide. Our approach is to transfer a maximum of the laser complexity to the silicon, which processes are familiar to microelectronics. Ideally, III-V should be just used as a gain material ; the laser cavity being made out of silicon. However, this approach is not so easy to put into practice. Indeed, photons are generated by the III-V waveguide but have to be transferred into the silicon waveguide located under the stack. The difficulty is that both waveguides are separated by a low index bonding layer, which thickness ranges from one hundred to several hundreds of nanometres. The development of a III-V on SOI laser then requires a new thinking of the whole laser system. Therefore, our work has consisted in designing a III-V on silicon hybrid laser that takes into consideration the specific constraints of the integration technology. Based on the coupled mode theory and on the photonic crystals concepts, we have designed, fabricated and characterized an hybrid Distributed Feedback Laser (DFB). Its original work principle allows for both a high amount of gain and coupling efficiency, thanks to a continuous circulation of photons from the III-V to the SOI waveguide. On these devices, we show a monomode laser emission at room temperature (with a side mode suppression ratio of 35dB) under pulsed optical and electrical pumping. As expected, the lasing wavelength is function of the DFB grating pitch. The lasers work with a bonding layer as thick as 200nm, that greatly relaxes the constraints of the bonding technology. Lasers work down to a minimum length of 150 μm, which is the shortest laser lenght of the mask. Despite the low power levels collected by the fibre during the characterizations, accounting for the high optical losses due to the fiber couplers, the optical power effectively injected to the silicon waveguide should be in the miliwatt range. Unfortunately, the low threshold current densities measured under pulsed operation (300 A / cm2 at room temperature) suggest that the continuous-wave regime should be reached in a very near future.

This dissertation documents works on two projects, which are broadly related to photonic integration using III-V semiconductor platform for fiber-based optical communication. Our principal project aims to demonstrate continuous variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) with InP-based photonic integrated cir cuit at the 1550 nanometer of optical wavelength. CV QKD protocols, in which the key is encoded in the quadrature variables of light, has generated immense interest over the years because of its compatibility with the existing telecom infrastructure. In this thesis, we have proposed a design of a photonic inte grated circuit potentially capable of realizing this protocol with coherent states of light. From the practical perspective, we have basically designed an optical transmitter and an optical receiver capable of carrying out coherent communi cation via the optical fiber. Initially, we established a mathematical model of the transceiver system based on the optical transfer matrix of the foundry spe cific (Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute-Germany) building blocks. We have shown that our chip design is versatile in the sense that it can support multiple modulation schemes. Based on the mathematical model, we estimated the link budget to assess the feasibility of on-chip implementation of our protocol. Then we ran a circuit level simulation using the process design kit provided by our foundry to put our analysis on a better footing. The encouraging result from this step prompted us to generate the mask layout for our transceiver chips, which we eventually submitted to the foundry. The other project in the thesis grew out of a collaboration with one of our industry partners. The goal of the project is to enhance the performance of a distributed feedback laser emitting at the 1310 nanometer of optical wavelength by optimizing its design. To that end, we first derived the expression for transmission and reflection spectrum for the laser cavity. Those expressions contained parameters which needed to be obtained from the transverse and the longitudinal mode analysis of the laser. We performed the transverse mode analysis and the longitudinal mode analysis with commercially available numerical solvers. Those mode profiles critically depend on the grating physical parameters. Therefore by tweaking grating dimensions one can control the transmission characteristics of the laser.