Design of hybrid lasers for silicon photonics: efficiency, optical feedback tolerance and laser dynamics

We present the design and the simulation of the dynamics of hybrid lasers based on a reflective SOA edgecoupled to a silicon photonics integrated reflector realized with waveguide rings. We design the laser for high efficiency and tolerance to spurious optical feedback and we compare the best designs in SiN and SOI platforms. By simulating the laser dynamics with a Time Domain Travelling Wave approach we show that the hybrid solitary laser (ie: without feedback) can operate in various regimes from CW to self-pulsing. These regimes are triggered by the linewidth enhancement factor of the SOA and can be controlled by a phase control section. The tolerance to the optical feedback is also further enhanced by the damping of the relaxation oscillations filtered by the narrowband reflector.