Low-operating-energy directly modulated lasers for short-distance optical interconnects

We review recent developments in directly modulated lasers (DMLs) with low operating energy for datacom and computercom applications. Key issues are their operating energy and the cost for employing them in these applications. To decrease the operating energy, it is important to reduce the active volume of the laser while maintaining the cavity Q-factor or photon lifetime in the cavity. Therefore, how to achieve high-reflectivity mirrors has been the main challenge in reducing the operating energy. In terms of the required output power from the lasers, the required input power into the photodetector and the transmission distance determine the lower limit of laser active volume. Therefore, the operating energy and output power are in a trade-off relationship. In designing the lasers, the cavity volume, quantum well number, and optical confinement factor are critical parameters. For reducing the cost, it is important to fabricate a large-scale photonic integrated circuit (PIC) comprising DMLs, an optical multiplexer, and monitor photodetectors because the lower assembly cost reduces the overall cost. In this context, silicon (Si) photonics technology plays a key role in fabricating large-scale PICs with low cost, and heterogeneous integration of DMLs and Si photonics devices has attracted much attention. We will describe fabrication technologies for heterogeneous integration and experimental results for DMLs on a Si substrate.