Two-dimensional resonant optical scanners actuated by vertical electrostatic combs with a unique electrical isolation structure have been developed. The isolation on the movable frame surrounding 1 mm-diameter gimbal mirror is made by trenching the top silicon layer of an SOI wafer with leaving the thick bottom layers. Thanks to the large mass of the frame, the resonant frequencies range in 65.0-89.2 Hz for the frame and in 11.9-36.8 kHz for the mirror in a 4 mm4 mm chip. The resultant frequency ratio of the fast/slow axes reaches over 500 and such a high frequency ratio is utilized to display QVGA image by raster scanning of a laser beam.

A 76-GHz Gunn voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with a high output power and a wide tuning-frequency range was fabricated by optimizing VCO circuits and using laser micromachining. The tuning-frequency range of the fabricated Gunn VCO was more than two times higher than that attained in our previous experiments by optimizing VCO circuits. The VCO attained a tuning-frequency range of 493 MHz, output power variation of 1.0 dB, and tuning-frequency linearity of 6.1% over a tuning-voltage range from 0 to 10 V. Its power consumption was 2.0 W at operation voltage of 3.6 V. And it measured output power was 13.3 dBm with DC-RF conversion efficiency of 1.0% at 76.5 GHz. Moreover, under fundamental-mode operation, it achieved low phase noise of -107.8 dBc/Hz at an offset frequency of 1 MHz. Since laser micromachining was used in fabricating the Gunn VCO, the reproducibility of its RF performance was improved.

For the construction of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) systems using their unique properties, a PCF coupler (PCFC) is one of the key components of the systems. The characteristics of the PCFC depend on the state of air holes in the tapered region of the PCFC because the state of air holes in the tapered region affects light propagation in the PCFC taper. In this paper, coupling characteristics of PCFCs were theoretically investigated. In PCFCs with air hole remaining tapers, we found that a smaller elongation ratio i.e. a stronger elongation is required to obtain optical coupling as an air hole pitch or a ratio of air hole diameter to pitch is larger. In PCFCs with air hole collapsed tapers, it was clarified that a dependence of extinction ratio on air hole collapsed elongation ratio is higher for smaller elongation ratio. It was also clarified that an air hole remaining PCFC has slow wavelength characteristics in extinction ratio compared to an air hole collapsed PCFC. Air hole remaining PCFCs and air hole collapsed PCFCs were fabricated using a CO2 laser irradiation technique. We could successfully control whether air holes in the PCFC taper were remaining or collapsed by adjusting the irradiated laser power in the elongation process of the PCFC fabrication. It was experimentally clarified that the air hole remaining PCFC has slow wavelength characteristics in extinction ratio compared to the air hole collapsed PCFC. The tendencies of the measured wavelength characteristics of PCFCs agree with those of numerical results.

A radio-on-dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) transport system based on injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser diodes (FP LDs) with four microwave carriers and large effective area fiber (LEAF) transmission was proposed and demonstrated. Good performance of bit error rate (BER) and intermodulation distortion to carrier ratio (IMD/C) over a-50 km of LEAF was obtained. Signal quality meets the demands of personal handy system (PHS)/vehicle information and communication system (VICS)/electronic toll collection (ETC)/satellite broadcasting (SB).

A new scheme for reducing optical beat interference noise in a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier based wavelength division multiplexed/subcarrier multiplexing -- passive optical network is proposed. This method uses an Fabry Perot laser locked by modulated lights from optical network units in a central office. As an experimental verification, it is reported that carrier to noise ratio is enhanced by 10 dB and power penalty is improved by 16 dB.

In order to realize a higher density version of the conventional optical disk, shorter wavelength laser and narrower track pitch have been put to practical use. However, using narrow track pitch can cause the increase of the crosstalk from the adjacent tracks. Moreover, the use of narrow pitch and short wavelength can also give rise to the increase of deterioration of the detected signal characteristics due to the microscopic roughness of disk surface. In this paper, in order to estimate the effect of surface roughness theoretically, we try to analyze the light-beam scattering and detected signal characteristics of a blue laser optical disk model with random rough surfaces by the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method.

The design aspects of the bulk InGaAsP semiconductor optical amplifier integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) optimized for 40 Gbps-NRZ all optical wavelength conversion are described. The dimensions of the SOA active waveguide have been optimized for fast gain recovery by maximizing the gain and adjusting the wavelength-converted NRZ waveforms. Submicron-width buried heterostructure (BH) SOA waveguides were fabricated successfully and showed little leakage current. The experimental wavelength-converted optical waveform agreed well to the numerical simulations, and mask-compliant 40 G-NRZ wavelength-converted waveform was obtained by the optimized SOA-MZI. 40 G-NRZ full C-band operation and polarization-insensitive operation of SOA-MZI were also achieved.

In this paper we modeled and analyzed the ridge type InGaAlAs/InP semiconductor laser with lateral current confinement structure, and optimized the design for the ridge wave guide with the current confinement. We proposed and fabricated the ridge type InGaAlAs/InP laser with a cost effective selective undercut etching method and demonstrated the improvement of the ridge laser performance. This paper provides a solution to solve the cost/yield issue for conventional BH (buried hetero-structure) type laser and performance issue for conventional ridge type laser.

Monolithically integrated four-channel distributed feedback (DFB) laser array has been fabricated by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) selective area growth for 1.55 µm coarse-wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) systems. Wide-stripe MOVPE selective area growth and electron-beam lithography are used to obtain wide CWDM channel spacing of 20 nm. Compared to hybrid integration of discrete lasers, monolithic integration of laser array on a single substrate greatly simplifies device alignment and packaging process.

To overcome the demerits of two passive optical networks; the small link capacity of the TDM-PON, and the ineffective link utilization of the WDM-PON; we propose a novel access network architecture featuring a WDM-based feeder network and a TDM-based distribution network. In this paper, we examine the design issues of the key constituent of SWE-PON (Scalable WDM-based Ethernet hybrid-PON) to validate its economic and practical feasibility. For flawless network operation, the wavelength tuning rule is investigated so that it does not collide between wavelengths from the tunable lasers belonging to the WDM coupler. Also, the potential problem between the tunable laser and the reflective operational device is analyzed in detail. From the numerical analysis and simulation, we demonstrate the variation of the network performance in terms of the upstream traffic delay and throughput of the ONU in accordance with the sharing structure of distribution network and the number of tunable laser devices (TLDs) at the feeder network.

The electromagnetic disturbance that leaks from ICT (information and communications technology) equipment might contain important information. Our measurements show that the information hidden inside of the electromagnetic disturbance can be monitored. First, we measured the level of the electromagnetic disturbance that leaks from laser printers and collected the waveform in the time domain. Then, we reconstructed the printed image from the data. As a result of our measurements, we found that at points 200 cm away or beyond it is difficult to reconstruct the printed image, and therefore the threat to electromagnetic security is not significant.

Three distortion reduction filters for radio-on-fiber systems are proposed and evaluated from the standpoint of improvements in in-band third order intermodulation (IM3) components (spurious components), insertion loss, temperature stability and so on. The basic filter configuration includes optical comb filter, RF (radiowave frequency) comb filter, and RF dual band rejection filter (DBRF). Experiments are conducted at 2 GHz band for frequency separation Δf=5 MHz and 100 MHz in the temperature range of -10 to +50. These filters can reduce IM3 components even in the saturation region, unlike conventional linearizers. An optical comb filter can reduce IM3 components more than 20 dB and noise level around 10 dB if its polarization controller is properly adjusted, but its insertion loss is large and stability against vibration is very poor. The proposed RF comb filter and RF-DBRF can reduce IM3 components by more than 20 dB and noise level by more than 3 dB. Their stability against vibration and temperature change is good, and insertion losses are 1-2 dB for Δf=100 MHz.

We report the generation of time- and wavelength-interleaved optical pulses using the principle of sub-harmonic pulse gating in a dispersion-managed fiber cavity. The pulsed source has been applied to the processing of electrical and optical signals including analog-to-digital conversion, wavelength multicast, and serial-to-parallel optical data conversion.

Ultrahigh-speed fiber lasers operating at up to 40 GHz offer a clean longitudinal comb and a narrow linewidth. This makes them suitable for applications including optical comb generation, ultrahigh-speed optical pulse transmission including PSK, and as opto-microwave oscillators. In this paper, we describe recent progress on ultrafast fiber lasers and their applications to optical metrology.

Next generation free electron lasers aim to generate x-ray pulses with pulse durations down to 30 fs, and possibly even sub-fs. Synchronization of various stages of the accelerator and the probe laser system to the x-ray pulses with stability on the order of the pulse width is necessary to make maximal use of this capability. We are developing an optical timing synchronization system in order to meet this challenge. The scheme is based on generating a train of short optical pulses, with a precise repetition frequency, from a mode-locked laser oscillator and distributed via length-stabilized optical fibers to points requiring synchronization. The timing information is embedded in the repetition frequency and its harmonics. A significant advantage of the optical synchronization system is that multiple mode-locked Ti:sapphire seed oscillators typically present in an accelerator facility can be replaced by the master mode-locked fiber laser. In this paper, we briefly review progress on the development of the synchronization system and then discuss the implementation of this new possibility. Several technical issues related to this approach are analyzed.

We have fabricated a polymer solid-state microstructure for optical application by two-photon-induced polymerization technique. The photopolymerization resin contains conventional laser-dye and dendrimer. A dendrimer can encapsulate the laser-dyes, limiting cluster formation and intermolecular energy transfer, and promising a high level of optical gain. The effect can be extended to prepare an optically active microstructure using the two-photon-induced polymerization technique. We fabricated a polymeric microcavity, which consisted of < 400 nm-linewidth strips arranged in layer-by-layer structure. The periodic variation in the refractive index gave rise to Bragg reflection. A laser emission was measured in the microcavity under optical excitation. The spectral linewidth was about 0.1 nm above the lasing threshold. We investigate both the material functions in the molecular scale and controlling the device structure for desired applications such as a polymer distributed feedback structure.

A micromirror for an external cavity diode laser is described. The mirror is supported by two sets of parallel torsion bars enabling piston motion as well as rotation. These motions are for realizing continuous wavelength tuning. Adjusting two rotations electrically, the pivot of the mirror rotation can be controlled. The long stroke of the vertical comb is realized by the deep three-dimensional structure prepared by the wafer bending method.

PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 (PZT) thin films with high crystallinity and high remanant polarization (Pr) have been fabricated by sol-gel deposition with pulsed excimer (XeCl) laser annealing at low process temperatures. The amorphous PZT films were prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by a sol-gel method. The deposited amorphous PZT films were annealed at 550 for 10 min. to initiate the nucleation of the PZT perovskite phase, and then annealed with an UV pulsed excimer laser (308 nm) heating at 400. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that 150-230 mJ/cm2 range multi-shot excimer laser irradiation drastically improved the crystallinity of the PZT perovskite phase. Field emission SEM (FE SEM) image show that the PZT thin film has uniform-sized crystal grains. The ferroelectric properties were found to depend on the laser energy density and shot number.

CMOS poly-Si thin-film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated through crystallization and GILD processes by a novel selected area laser assisted (SALA) system. The system enables a local area irradiation of small beams of a pulsed solid-state laser of frequency tripled Nd:YAG. The novel TFT process eliminated 3 doping mask steps of the conventional process. On-off current ratios for both types of poly-Si TFTs were improved by SALA. The field effect mobility of n- and p-channel TFTs is 84 cm2/Vs and 75 cm2/Vs, respectively.

Self-controlled sub-nanosecond pulse generator was demonstrated with an ytterbium-doped fiber. This fiber laser consisted simply of all non-polarization fiber without any devices for polarization control and birefringence compensation. The self-pulse operation system gave an average output power of 0.9 mW in 800-ps duration pulses.