| Monolithic semiconductor ring lasers (SRLs) are attractive light sources for optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs) due to their convenience in monolithic integration: neither cleaved facets nor gratings are required for optical feedback. They are promising candidates for wavelength filtering, multiplexing-demultiplexing applications, electrical or all-optical switching, gating, and memories, and particularly, optical inertial rotation sensors or ring laser gyros.; As the major part of a NASA-supported project "Monolithically integrated semiconductor ring laser gyro for space applications," this dissertation research was focused on design, fabrication, and directional control of monolithically integrated SRLs with relatively large size and sophisticated OEIC structures. The main potential application is the next-generation monolithic ring laser gyros.; Specifically, monolithic SRLs with the longest reported cavity of 10.28 mm have been demonstrated. In device characterization, differential I-V analysis has been used for the first time in SRLs for purely electrical identification of lasing threshold and directional switching.; Sophisticated device structures have been devised, including optically independent novel ring laser pairs, from which frequency beating between monolithically integrated SRLs was reported for the first time. In addition, no frequency lock-in was observed in the beating spectra, indicating an important progress for proposed gyro applications. Functional OEIC components including photodetectors, passive and active waveguides, and novel Joule heaters have been integrated on-chip along with the ring lasers.; Mode competition, directional switching, bistability, and bidirectional and unidirectional operation in SRLs have been investigated. Directional control techniques with asymmetric mechanisms including spiral and S-section waveguides have been implemented. The S-section was investigated and analyzed in great detail for its suppression of directional switching and promotion of unidirectional operation.; Quantum-dot- (QD-) based ring lasers have been demonstrated for the first time. The lowest level of threshold current density for SRLs was achieved (∼300 A/cm2). For QD devices with S-section, totally suppressed directional switching with extremely high unidirectionality has been realized. Record counterpropagating mode suppression ratio (CMSR) of over 30 dB was achieved. Spontaneous emission has been proposed to play an important role in S-section-induced asymmetric mechanism. |
