Demonstration of directly modulated silicon Raman laser

The first Raman laser with intra-cavity electronic switching is demonstrated. Digital control of intra-cavity gain is attained by using a diode gain cavity. In contrast to traditional Raman lasers, the Raman laser reported here is made from pure silicon and can be directly modulated to transmit data. Room temperature operation with 2.5W peak laser output power is demonstrated. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.