Rapidly and widely tunable hybrid silicon integrated laser

We demonstrate an integrated hybrid silicon tunable laser with rapid and wide tunability for applications in sensing and optical networks. By implementing an optimized carrier injection phase shifter design, the filters of the silicon laser cavity may be efficiently controlled, enabling a wide 56 nm tuning range with a rapid 10 ns response time. The laser output power is up to 10 dBm, and the linewidth is narrower than 200 kHz. The fast wavelength switching demonstrated here may be employed in data center and access networks, while the potential for rapid wavelength sweeping is attractive for optical sensing and imaging applications.