Injection locked multi-section gain-coupled dual mode DFB laser for terahertz generation

A dual mode multi-section gain-coupled distributed feedback laser with tunable mode spacing is subharmonically injection locked at 0.315 THz. The injected signal consists of an optical comb with harmonics 35 GHz apart and a bandwidth of approximately 1.9 THz. The optical comb is a result of strong four-wave mixing in a highly-nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber. In order to observe locking of the multi-section laser, the output is optically downconverted to RF frequencies using the same optical comb. The locked multi-section DFB laser is a coherent and tunable optical source suitable for continuous-wave terahertz generation systems.