PhD11: Muhammad Ammar Javaid

Host: Innolume 

Secondment: University of Kent, Applied Optics Group (AOG)

PhD Project: Tunable sampled grating (SG) distributed Bragg reflector DBR laser diode

To achieve the project objectives, literature of semiconductor lasers, DBR lasers has been thoroughly studied and development of laser has been planned. Akinetic swept laser employs a widely tunable all-semiconductor laser SG-DBR (Sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector) or also referred as VT-DBR {vernier tunable} sometimes as it utilizes the vernier effect for tuning the wavelength. The device researched consists of five waveguide sections longitudinally integrated together on the semiconductor substrate: a gain section, a front and a back DBR mirror sections formed by sampled gratings, a phase section (which contains neither gratings nor active material), an amplifier which is much like the gain section in structure but located outside the front mirror. All five sections include electrical contacts. In the case of the gain and SOA sections, current injection controls output power. For the other three sections, injected carriers induce a change in the refractive index, which tunes the lasing wavelength through shifts in the DBR reflectance spectra and the cavity mode spectrum.

Completed workshops, Seminars, and Conferences:

  • NETLAS 2nd Network Event; Winter School, DTU, Denmark, 1-4th March 2022
  • 25th Congress of the International Commission for Optics ICO-25 Conference, 5-9 Sept 2022, Dresden, Germany, Oral presentation “Tunable sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector laser diode for  Optical Coherence Tomography”
  • NETLAS 3rd Network Event: Autumn School, Technical University of Darmstadt (TUDA), Germany4-7th October 2022

Previous Education

Master’s in Optical Engineering with specialization in Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and broad band swept lasers from Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea (2018-2020). Master thesis work on broadband swept laser by combining the optical spectrum of two semiconductor optical amplifiers and developing a swept laser using a polygon scanner.

Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Electronics Engineering from Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Pakistan (2013-2017).