THORLABS ULN15 Series, User Manual, Page: 6 / 24

Ultra-Low Noise Laser Chapter 3: Description
Page 4 QTN039956-D02
Chapter 3
Description
3.1. General Characteristics
Th
orlabs’ Ultra-Low Noise (ULN) laser (US Patents 10193306, 10483718, 10476233, and 10454248) is an
external cavity diode laser consisting of a single angled facet gain chip coupled to a fiber Bragg grating (FBG).
The laser’s output is provided through a fiber pigtail. The ULN laser features ultra-low frequency and intensity
noise, along with high optical power. This product is provided in a hermetically-sealed, 14-pin, extended butterfly-
style package. The ULN laser includes two integrated thermoelectric cooler / thermistor pairs (one each for the
gain chip and the FBG), an auxiliary thermistor for monitoring the case temperature, and a photodiode for
monitoring the back facet power.
The ULN15PC and ULN15PT lasers operate in the ITU C band (1530 - 1565 nm). The center wavelength of each
device is tested and reported on a serialized data sheet. Most devices will operate at or near 1550 nm. Customers
that require a specific wavelength may contact technical support to place a special order (see Chapter 10).
ULN lasers are available with polarization-maintaining fiber; please contact technical support for a single mode
pigtailed fiber. The lasers are available in either a current tuning or a temperature tuning configuration, and details
on the configurations are discussed in the following sections.
Further details of the design of the ULN laser are available in the following publication:
Paul A. Morto
n and Michael J. Morton, “High-Power, Ultra-Low Noise Hybrid Lasers for Microwave Photonics
and Optical Sensing”,
Journal of Lightwave Technology , vol. 36, no. 21, pp. 5048
—5057, 2018.