Integrated heterogeneous silicon/III–V mode-locked lasers

The mode-locked laser diode has emerged as a promising candidate as a signal source for photonic radar systems, wireless data transmission, and frequency comb spectroscopy. They have the advantages of small size, low cost, high reliability, and low power consumption, thanks to semiconductor technology. Mode-locked lasers based on silicon photonics advance these qualities by the use of highly advanced silicon manufacturing technology. This paper will begin by giving an overview of mode-locked laser diode literature, and then focus on mode-locked lasers on silicon. The dependence of mode-locked laser performance on design details is presented.