A passively mode-locked quantum-dot laser operating over a broad temperature range

Broad temperature operation is demonstrated from 20 to 110 °C in a 5-GHz monolithic two-section InAs/GaAs quantum dot passively mode-locked laser with an optimized absorber to gain section length ratio of 0.11. Stable pulses of less than 19 ps full-width-half-maximum are measured over this entire temperature range. For a grounded absorber, mode-locking from the ground-state occurred over the range 20–92 °C, dual-mode lasing involving both ground and excited states from 93 to 98 °C and exclusively from the excited-state from 99 to 110 °C. The observed broad temperature operation agrees with theoretical analysis based on measured gain and absorption data that predicted improved temperature performance for a short absorber. The results are promising for the development of temperature-insensitive pulsed sources for uncooled applications such as data multiplexing and optical clocking.