The ability to generate high-speed on–off-keyed telecommunication signals by directly modulating a semiconductor laser’s drive current was one of the most exciting prospective applications of the nascent field of laser technology throughout the 1960s. Three decades of progress led to the commercialization of 2.5 Gbit s−1-per-channel submarine fibre optic systems that drove the growth of the internet as a global phenomenon. However, the detrimental frequency chirp associated with direct modulation forced industry to use external electro-optic modulators to deliver the next generation of on–off-keyed 10 Gbit s−1 systems and is absolutely prohibitive for today’s (>)100 Gbit s−1 coherent systems, which use complex modulation formats (for example, quadrature amplitude modulation). Here we use optical injection locking of directly modulated semiconductor lasers to generate complex modulation format signals showing distinct advantages over current and other currently researched solutions.
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机译：通过直接调制半导体激光器的驱动电流来产生高速开关键的电信信号的能力，是整个1960年代新兴的激光技术领域中最令人兴奋的预期应用之一。经过三十年的发展，每通道2.5 Gbit s −1 的海底光纤系统商业化，带动了互联网作为全球现象的发展。但是，与直接调制相关的有害频率线性调频迫使工业界使用外部电光调制器来提供下一代开关键控的10 Gbit s -1 系统，这对于当今的（ >）100 Gbit s -1 相干系统，它们使用复杂的调制格式（例如，正交幅度调制）。在这里，我们使用直接调制半导体激光器的光注入锁定来生成复杂的调制格式信号，这些信号显示出优于当前和其他当前研究解决方案的优势。
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