A laser device includes front and back DBRs and an interferometer. The front DBR is coupled to a front DBR electrode. The front DBR forms a first tunable multi-peak lasing filter. The back DBR is coupled to a back DBR electrode. The back DBR forms a second tunable multi-peak lasing filter. The interferometer part is coupled between the front DBR and the back DBR. The interferometer part includes first and second waveguide combiners and first and second interferometer waveguides coupled therebetween. The first waveguide combiner couples the interferometer part to the back DBR. The second waveguide combiner couples the interferometer part to the front DBR. The first interferometer waveguide is coupled to an interferometer electrode. The interferometer forms a third tunable multi-peak lasing filter.

A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a semiconductor laser part formed on the substrate and having an active layer with an uniform composition and a first ridge structure, and an adjacent part formed on the substrate, having a core layer with an uniform composition and a second ridge structure, and being an optical modulator or an optical waveguide which is in contact with the semiconductor laser part, wherein the first ridge structure is largest in width at a first contact part which is in contact with the second ridge structure, and the second ridge structure is largest in width at a second contact part which is in contact with the first ridge structure.

A laser device (1) includes: a branch waveguide (23) configured to split light propagating from an optical amplifier (10) into a plurality of light beams and output the plurality of light beams; a multi-core waveguide (27) including a plurality of waveguide cores (24 to 26) configured to carry the plurality of light beams input from the branch waveguide (23); and a light reflector (31) optically coupled to a light input/output end of the multi-core waveguide (27). The waveguide cores (24 to 26) are configured to extend along the same direction, and placed in proximity to one another to enable optical coupling between adjacent waveguide cores of the waveguide cores (24 to 26).

A waveguide based wavelength-tunable laser formed on a semiconductor substrate includes a first reflector from which laser light is output, a second reflector configuring a laser resonator together with the first reflector, a gain portion that is provided between the first reflector and the second reflector, at least two wavelength filters that can adjust wavelength characteristics and adjust a wavelength of the laser light, and a phase adjuster that adjusts an optical path length in the laser resonator, and a waveguide is formed to fold back an optical path by an angle of substantially 180 degrees between the first reflector and the second reflector.

A reflection filter device includes: a ring resonator filter including a ring-shaped waveguide and two arms, each of the two arms being optically coupled to the ring-shaped waveguide; and a dual-branch portion including a light input/output port and two branch ports, the light input/output port being configured to allow input and output of light, the two branch ports being configured to allow output of the light input from the light input/output port, the light being split into two, the two arms being connected to the two branch ports, respectively, at least one of the two arms being equipped with a phase adjuster.

A mode-locked semiconductor laser capable of changing the spacing between the carrier frequencies of its output comb. In an example embodiment, the mode-locked semiconductor laser is implemented as a hybrid solid-state device comprising a III-V semiconductor chip and a silicon chip attached to one another to form a laser cavity. The III-V semiconductor chip includes a gain medium configured to generate light in response to being electrically and/or optically pumped. The silicon chip includes a plurality of optical waveguides arranged to provide multiple optical paths of different effective lengths for the light generated in the laser cavity. Different optical paths can be controllably selected, using one or more optical switches connected between the optical waveguides, to change the effective optical length of the laser cavity and, as a result, the output-comb frequency spacing. In some embodiments, the output-comb frequency spacing can be changeable at least by a factor of 1.5.

A tunable laser includes a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), a grating codirectional coupler, and a reflective microring resonator. The grating codirectional coupler and the reflective microring resonator are both formed on a silicon base. An anti-reflection film is disposed on a first end surface of the reflective SOA, and the first end surface is an end surface, coupled to a first waveguide of the grating codirectional coupler, of the reflective SOA. A second waveguide of the grating codirectional coupler is coupled to the first waveguide, a first grating is disposed on the first waveguide, a second grating disposed opposite to the first grating is disposed on the second waveguide, and the first grating and the second grating constitute a narrow-band pass filter. The second waveguide is connected to the reflective microring resonator.

A tunable solid state laser device are described comprising a semiconductor based gain chip and a silicon photonic filter chip with tuning capability. The silicon photonic filter chip can comprises an input-output silicon waveguide, at least two ring resonators formed with silicon waveguides, one or more connecting silicon waveguides interfacing with the ring resonators, a separate heater associated with each ring resonator, a temperature sensor configured to measure the chip temperature, and a controller connected to the temperature sensor and the separate heaters and programmed with a feedback loop to maintain the filter temperature to provide the tuned frequency. The one or more connecting silicon waveguides are configured to redirect light resonant with each of the at least two ring resonators back through the input-output silicon waveguide. Corresponding methods are described for the control of the laser frequency. Improved structures of the SiPho multiple filter chip involve a Zagnac interferometer.

A tunable laser device based on silicon photonics includes a substrate configured with a patterned region comprising one or more vertical stoppers, an edge stopper facing a first direction, a first alignment feature structure formed in the patterned region along the first direction, and a bond pad disposed between the vertical stoppers. Additionally, the tunable laser includes an integrated coupler built in the substrate located at the edge stopper and a laser diode chip including a gain region covered by a P-type electrode and a second alignment feature structure formed beyond the P-type electrode. The laser diode chip is flipped to rest against the one or more vertical stoppers with the P-type electrode attached to the bond pad and the gain region coupled to the integrated coupler. Moreover, the tunable laser includes a tuning filter fabricated in the substrate and coupled via a wire waveguide to the integrated coupler.

A semiconductor laser source including a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, this interferometer including first and second arms. Each of the arms is divided into a plurality of consecutive sections, the effective index of each section located immediately after a preceding section being different from the effective index of this preceding section. The lengths of the various sections meet the following condition:

[00001]$\underset{n=1}{\overset{N_2}{.Math.}}.Math.L_{2,n}.Math.{\mathrm{neff}}_{2,n}-\underset{n=1}{\overset{N_1}{.Math.}}.Math.L_{1,n}.Math.{\mathrm{neff}}_{1,n}=k_f.Math.{}_{\mathrm{Si}}$

where: k.sub.f is a preset integer number higher than or equal to 1, N.sub.1 and N.sub.2 are the numbers of sections in the first and second arms, respectively, L.sub.1,n and L.sub.2,n are the lengths of the nth sections of the first and second arms, respectively, neff.sub.1,n and neff.sub.2,n are the effective indices of the nth sections of the first and second arms, respectively. The first and second arms each comprise a gain-generating section.