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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Low-SWaP, Narrow-Linewidth, and Tunable Laser System for the Next Generation of Quantum Technologies

Mateus Corato‐Zanarella, Matthias Lommel, Dimitri Mayzlin, Jovana Nojić, Alexander Eras, Christian Nölleke, Björn Globisch, Christopher Haimberaer

Published Jun 23, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

As quantum technologies transition from laboratories to the world, their successful deployment critically relies on the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the laser sources fueling them. Due to the stringent optical requirements of most of these systems, they still predominantly use bulky lasers made of free-space components. With the emergence of high-performance, chip-scale lasers based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) [1], practical quantum systems that are compact and scalable are now within reach. However, to successfully realize a PIC-based laser module that meets both optical and functional requirements, a system-level approach for co-designing the optical source (gain medium and PIC), the driver electronics, and the control software needs to be adopted.

DOI
10.1109/cleo/europe-eqec65582.2025.11110430

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As quantum technologies transition from laboratories to the world, their successful deployment critically relies on the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the laser sources fueling them. Due to the stringent optical requirements of most of these systems, they still predominantly use bulky lasers made of free-space components. With the emergence of high-performance, chip-scale lasers based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) [1], practical quantum systems that are compact and scalable are now within reach. However, to successfully realize a PIC-based laser module that meets both optical and functional requirements, a system-level approach for co-designing the optical source (gain medium and PIC), the driver electronics, and the control software needs to be adopted.
With quantum optical technologies advancing toward real-world deployment, their success depends on reducing the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the laser sources that drive them. While photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based lasers have emerged as promising replacements to traditional bulky lasers, achieving a PIC-based laser system that satisfies both optical and functional requirements demands a system-level co-design of optics, electronics, and software that has not yet been realized. Here, we demonstrate a low-SWaP, tunable, and narrow-linewidth laser system based on PICs and programmable control electronics for the 780 nm region of the near-infrared spectrum. By leveraging the Vernier effect between a Fabry-Pérot laser diode (FPLD) and a microring resonator (MRR), we design the PIC to serve as an external cavity to self-injection lock the FPLD, resulting in a tunable laser with narrow linewidth. We package this PIC-laser into a standard butterfly package and drive it using a custom digital laser controller with a user-friendly interface. We design the programmable control electronics to meet the specific requirements of a PIC-laser as well as enable advanced functionalities that support cutting-edge quantum and classical optical applications. The complete laser system, which also includes optical isolators and fiber coupling, achieves up to 9.5 nm coarse tuning, 50 GHz mode-hop-free fine tuning, 30 mW free-space output power (before isolators), kHz-level intrinsic linewidth, and over 50 dB side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR). To exemplify the applicability of our laser system for quantum technologies, we perform spectroscopy on rubidium D2 transition lines and frequency-lock it to the cycling transition for days in a non-controlled environment with significant temperature fluctuations. We envision that our compact, fully integrated laser system will be a key enabler for scalable and deployable quantum and classical optical technologies.
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