Narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers based on nonlinear self-injection locking

Abstract: Self-injection locking techniques for stabilizing lasers have been developed using passive cavities to increase the effective lifetime of the laser cavity, thereby reducing the linewidth of the laser. We propose and demonstrate a new technique based on nonlinear self-injection locking (N-SIL) which we implement via feedback from the gain-narrowed Stokes mode of a fiber Brillouin oscillator. By blue-shifting the Stokes field back to its pump frequency with an electro-optic modulator we realize recursive linewidth reduction that eliminates the phase drift caused by spontaneous emission noise. The fundamental linewidth limit is set by the spontaneous emission limit of the nonlinear oscillator, far lower than the spontaneous emission limit of a semiconductor laser. We demonstrate the power of this approach by achieving sub-hertz fundamental linewidth from the output of a commercial DFB laser and noise performance that significantly exceeds that of conventional SIL. We also and propose alternative fully-integrated designs in CMOS-compatible photonic platforms that allow for highly compact and robust implementations.