Frédéric Grillot

Télécom ParisTech

Free-space optical communications in the mid-infrared transparency windows (4–5 and 8–14 μm wavelength regions) is emerging as a viable solution for high bitrate data transmission. Unipolar quantum optoelectronics is the technology of choice for data communication in this wavelength region, thanks to the high frequency response of detectors and mod...

Interband cascade lasers typically have significantly lower threshold current and power consumption than quantum cascade lasers. They can also have advantages regarding costs and compactness with the photonic integration onto silicon substrates by epitaxial growth. This research introduces a novel examination of the relative intensity noise and the...

This work investigates the impact of carrier noise induced by an external current source on the linewidth enhancement factor (LEF) and relative intensity noise (RIN) of a 100 GHz quantum dot fourth-order colliding-pulse mode-locked laser (MLL), driven by a normal pump with Gaussian-distributed carrier sequences and a quiet pump with sub-Poissonian-...

This paper explores the impact of gain medium on linewidth narrowing in integrated self-injection locked III–V/SiN lasers, theoretically and experimentally. We focus on the effects of carrier densities of states in zero- and two-dimensional structures due to quantum-dot and quantum-well confinement. The theoretical approach includes (a) multimode l...

The generation of squeezed states of light lies at the heart of modern photonics-based quantum information technologies. Traditionally, optical nonlinear interactions have been employed to produce squeezed states. However, the harnessing of electrically pumped semiconductor lasers offers distinctive paradigms to achieve enhanced squeezing performan...

We illustrate the generation of single-mode amplitude squeezing in a distributed feedback quantum dot laser driven by a constant-current pump. Achieving broadband amplitude squeezing of 1.7 dB over a 10 GHz range at room temperature is realized by suppressing carrier noise and implementing optical feedback. The noise-corrected squeezing level reach...

Nonlinear dynamics at mid-infrared wavelength is of interest for various applications but has been mainly limited to quantum cascade lasers so far. In this article, we show that interband cascade lasers can generate complex optical chaos with bandwidth in the GHz range and this outperforms the performances of quantum cascade laser chaos. The chaos...

In environments where traditional fiber optic cables are impractical, free-space optical communications offer a promising solution for transmitting large amounts of data, especially in the mid-infrared wavelength range. Despite the advantages of minimal atmospheric interference and stable signals, the vulnerability of wireless optical communication...

In this paper, we use a time-domain traveling-wave approach with a coupled-mode theory to describe the dynamics of a mid-Infrared (MIR) Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) in the Distributed-Feedback (DFB) configuration. We demonstrate that linewidth enhancement factor (LEF) and spatial hole burning (SHB) play a crucial role in influencing the device's sin...

This work demonstrates the ability of a silicon photonic mesh in recovering spectral information from chaotic light propagating through turbulent media. Results show-case the potential of the mesh in future LiDAR and communication applications.

This paper reports on an investigation of the frequency-modulated comb operation in a quantum-dot laser. Both the amplitude-modulated and the frequency-modulated combs can be generated independently from the same device through bias and the engineering of the optical nonlinearities.

The high-speed parameters of an interband cascade laser grown on silicon are analyzed through the prism of relative intensity noise. The evolution of the relaxation frequency allows deriving a modulation bandwidth in the GHz range.

This work demonstrates mid-infrared data transmission using an epitaxial interband cascade laser on silicon emitting at 3.5 µm. Direct modulation at 5 Gbit/s with on-off keying is achieved at room temperature while digital signal processing is used to further improve the system performance.

This work investigates the response to external optical feedback of a hybrid plasmonic semiconductor laser. Intensity of a hybrid plasmonic distributed feedback laser is also reported that relaxation oscillation frequency whereas tabletop feedback experiments unveil a stronger reflection immunity, with a significant margin of ~8 dB in comparison wi...

This paper demonstrates that the linewidth enhancement factor of quantum dot lasers is influenced by the external carrier transport issued from different external current sources. A model combining the rate equation and semi-classical carrier noise is used to investigate the different mechanisms leading to the above phenomenon in the context of a q...

This paper investigates experimentally and numerically the nonlinear dynamics of an epitaxial quantum dot laser on silicon subjected to optoelectronic feedback. Experimental results showcase a diverse range of dynamics, encompassing square wave patterns, quasi-chaotic states, and mixed waveforms exhibiting fast and slow oscillations. These measurem...

The generation of broadband squeezed states of light lies at the heart of high-speed continuous-variable quantum information. Traditionally, optical nonlinear interactions have been employed to produce quadrature-squeezed states. However, the harnessing of electrically pumped semiconductor lasers offers distinctive paradigms to achieve enhanced squ...

In this paper, a time-domain (TD) traveling-wave(TW) model based on the Effective Semiconductor Maxwell-Bloch Equations (ESMBEs) and a coupled-mode theory is pro-posed for the description of the dynamics of a mid-Infrared (mid-IR) Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) in the Distributed-Feedback(DFB) configuration. The influence of physical and geometricalpr...

This work investigates the response to external optical feedback of a hybrid plasmonic semiconductor laser. Intensity noise measurements revealed the relaxation oscillation frequency whereas tabletop feedback experiments unveil a stronger reflection immunity, with a significant margin of 8 dB in comparison with a standard semiconductor laser made w...

This work theoretically investigates the relative intensity noise (RIN) and spectral linewidth characteristics of epitaxial quantum dot (QD) lasers on silicon subject to optical injection. The results show that the RIN of QD lasers can be reduced by optical injection, hence a reduction of 10 dB is achieved which leads to a RIN as low as −167.5 dB/H...

This work reports on a systematic investigation of the frequency comb enhancement in hybrid InAs/GaAs multisection quantum dot lasers on silicon. The colliding configuration provides an operating frequency at twice the fundamental frequency of the free-spectral range of the cold cavity. In particular, the contribution of the linewidth enhancement f...

Stable laser emission with narrow linewidth is of critical importance in many applications, including coherent communications, LIDAR, and remote sensing. In this work, the physics underlying spectral narrowing of self-injection-locked on-chip lasers to Hz-level lasing linewidth is investigated using a composite-cavity structure. Heterogeneously int...

Distributed feedback lasers are key ingredients of high-speed, high-capacity integrated photonic chips. In this work, we extract the linewidth enhancement factor above threshold by measuring the transitional points in the optical-injection stability map from a quantum well distributed feedback laser with a temperature-controlled mismatch between th...

Stable laser emission with narrow linewidth is of critical importance in many applications, including coherent communications, LIDAR, and remote sensing. In this work, the physics underlying spectral narrowing of self-injection-locked on-chip lasers to Hz-level lasing linewidth is investigated using a composite-cavity structure. Heterogeneously-int...

Spectrally-pure lasers are paramount in various fields. Progression to Hz-level lasing linewidth in III-V/SiN lasers with quantum-dot active regions is predicted here. Using parametric studies, one can produce timely results in engineering designs.

Space-to-ground high-speed transmission is of utmost importance for the development of a worldwide broadband network. Mid-infrared wavelengths offer numerous advantages for building such a system, spanning from low atmospheric attenuation to eye-safe operation and resistance to inclement weather conditions. We demonstrate a full interband cascade s...

This work theoretically investigates the possibility of generating amplitude-squeezed light with high-quantum-efficiency interband cascade lasers. Based on a stochastic approach, we show that, by employing the suppressed-pump-noise configuration, this kind of midinfrared source enables operation with considerable amplitude squeezing over a large ba...

This paper describes an analysis of integrated III-V/SiN lasers operating with quantum-dot and quantum-well active regions. We focus on the effects of 0- and 2-dimensional carrier densities of states on linewidth narrowing. The theoretical approach includes a) multimode laser interaction to treat mode competition and wave mixing, b) quantum-optical...

The nonlinear features of both semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) and semiconductor lasers, which are made from the same InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) wafers, are investigated in detail. By employing pump-probe driven four-wave mixing as an experimental tool, the wave conversion process shows notably different profiles for the two types of device...

The four-wave mixing conversion efficiency of quantum dot laser is much higher than that of quantum well. These results are important for self-mode-locked pulse production and high-bandwidth optical frequency comb generation.

A semi-classical rate equation model for the amplitude squeezing of mid-infrared interband cascade lasers is presented based on Green's function method. We analytically investigate the squeezing performance through a small signal analysis, where an additional partition noise in the output power is considered because of the anti-correlation between...

Quantum‐Dot Lasers The maturating of III–V laser technology intensifies the exploration of complex optical configurations based on integrating III–V and silicon photonics. In article number 2100620, Yating Wan and colleagues describe a laser theory, beyond the customary quasi‐mode approximation for treating resonator outcoupling, for understanding...

Quantum dot lasers are an attractive option for light sources in silicon photonic integrated circuits. Thanks to the three-dimensional charge carrier confinement in quantum dots, high material gain, low noise and large temperature stability can be achieved. This paper discusses, both theoretically and experimentally, the advantages of silicon-based...

This paper reports on the reflection sensitivity under direct modulation operation of a 1.3 μm InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser that is epitaxially grown on silicon. The quantum dot laser exhibits a high tolerance to back reflections with low error transmission at 6 Gbps. This study paves the way for developing directly modulated isolator-free photonic...

The purpose of this article is to gather recent findings about the non-linear dynamics of distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers, with a view on practical applications in a near future. As opposed to other semiconductor lasers, usually emitting in the visible or the near-infrared region, quantum cascade laser technology takes advantage of inte...

This work compares the four-wave mixing (FWM) effect in epitaxial quantum dot (QD) lasers grown on silicon with quantum well (QW) lasers. A comparison of theory and experiment results shows that the measured FWM coefficient is in good agreement with theoretical predictions. The gain in signal power is higher for p-doped QD lasers than for undoped l...

This article describes a calculation of the spontaneous emission limited linewidth of a semiconductor laser consisting of hybrid or heterogeneously integrated, silicon and III–V intracavity components. Central to the approach are a) description of the multi‐element laser cavity in terms of composite laser/free‐space eigenmodes, b) use of multimode...

The spectral dependence of the linewidth enhancement factor (aH-factor) of a multimode InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser is analyzed. Amplified spontaneous and high-frequency modulation methods are used to experimentally retrieve the aH-factor of each longitudinal mode below and above the threshold. A dispersion of the aH-factor is unlocked across the en...

Stark Effect Modulator Carlo Sirtori and colleagues present a high frequency Stark effect modulator in article number 2100414, which writes data‐bits on a laser beam by shifting the absorption of an optical transition in and out of the laser frequency. Paired with a quantum cascade detector they form a free space optical link allowing for 10Gbit s−...

The topic of external optical feedback in quantum-cascade lasers is relevant for stability and beam-properties considerations. Albeit less sensitive to external optical feedback than other lasers, quantum-cascade lasers can exhibit several behaviors under such feedback, and those are relevant for a large panel of applications, from communication to...

Chaos in nonlinear dynamical systems is featured with irregular appearance and with high sensitivity to initial conditions. Near-infrared light chaos based on semiconductor lasers has been extensively studied and has enabled various applications. Here, we report a fully-developed hyperchaos in the mid-infrared regime, which is produced from interba...

This study deals with the communication capabilities of two kinds of semiconductor lasers emitting in one of the atmosphere transparency windows, around 4 $\mu$ m. One of these two lasers is a quantum cascade laser and the other one is an interband cascade laser. With the quantum cascade laser, a subsequent attenuation is added to the optical pat...

Communication privacy is one of the key requirements for always expanding networks. Furthermore, fibre systems are becoming saturated and many remote areas do not have access to broadband connection because current systems are too difficult or expensive to deploy. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a mid-infrared free-space cryptosystem th...

Using the Stark effect in coupled InGas/AlInAs quantum wells, we demonstrate a mid-infrared broadband optoelectronic external modulator enabling 10 Gbit/s free space optical data-transmission in the second atmospheric window (9 µm) at room temperature.

Using the Stark effect in coupled InGas/AlInAs quantum wells, we demonstrate a mid-infrared broadband optoelectronic external modulator enabling 10 Gbit/s free space optical data-transmission in the second atmospheric window (9 μm) at room temperature.

A combination of unipolar quantum laser, modulator and detector allows us to demonstrate a free-space communication at 40 Gbits/s and 9 µ m far-infrared wavelength. The distance between the emitter and the receiver is 31 meters.

We analyze the dynamics features of 4.1 µ m optical chaos generated experimentally bya Fabry-Perot interband cascade laser. The numerical simulations we perform with the Lang-Kobayashi model are in good agreement with the experimental findings.

Combination of interband cascade laser and interband cascade infrared pho-todetector allows demonstrating free-space transmission at 16 GBit/s in the thermal atmospheric window around 4 µm, paving the way towards energy-efficient mid-infrared communication.

Free space optics data transmission with bitrate in excess of 10 Gbit s⁻¹ is demonstrated at 9 µm wavelength by using a unipolar quantum optoelectronic system at room temperature, composed of a quantum cascade laser, a modulator, and a quantum cascade detector. The large frequency bandwidth of the system is set by the detector and the modulator tha...