Ultra-High Speed Monolithic Injection-Locked Analog Transmitter Arrays (MILATA)

Compact arrays of ultra-high-speed analog laser sources or lasers integrated with modulators are needed for LADAR sensors and scene generation. Multiplex, Inc., UC Berkeley and UCSD propose a novel Monolithic Injection-Locked Analog Transmitter Array (MILATA) for wide frequency range (>2GHz) operation with 60 dB to 72 dB optical extinction ratio. MILATA is a versatile technology platform that is built on our recent success in monolithic injection-locked lasers funded by DARPA RFLICS program. The monolithic injection locked laser we invented is the most compact and practical injection-locked semiconductor laser. For LADAR scene generation, the injection locked laser will be monolithically integrated with an electro-absorption modulator (EAM). Direct modulation of the injection locked laser will be combined with external modulation using the monolithically integrated EAM for the proposed LADAR simulators. A novel quarter-wave shifted DFB laser with strong gratings will be fabricated for high device yield, which is necessary for array integration. A long-interaction-length EA modulator design with low waveguide propagation loss will be used for high optical extinction ratio while maintaining high modulation speed. A selective-area MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) method for InP-GaInAsP based materials will be optimized for high-density, chip-scale transmitter array integration. The output of this SBIR Phase-II program will be a fully packaged MILATA with 8 fiber channels per card. The 8-channel transmitter arrays can be stacked on the fiber output side to form a 2-dimensioanl 8 x 8 array. We will pursue the development of manufacturing technologies for growing from 8 x 8 to 256 x 256 fiber channels. The proposed MILATA is a general-purpose, application-specific photonic IC technology that can be tailored to both DOD (LADAR scene generation, RF photonic links, phased array radars, millimeter wave generation) and commercial applications (parallel optical interconnect in next generation super computers, CATV distribution, high speed digital data links, and instrumentation). The technology fits Multiplex’s continuing marketing roadmap, and the ability for different applications to share the same technology platform is the key to cost reduction.