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The development of integrated semiconductor lasers has miniaturized traditional bulky laser systems, enabling a wide range of photonic applications. A progression from pure III-V based lasers to III-V/external cavity structures has harnessed low-loss waveguides in different material systems, leading to significant improvements in laser coherence and stability. Despite these successes, however, key functions remain absent. In this work, we address a critical missing function by integrating the Pockels effect into a semiconductor laser. Using a hybrid integrated III-V/Lithium Niobate structure, we demonstrate several essential capabilities that have not existed in previous integrated lasers. These include a record-high frequency modulation speed of 2 exahertz/s (2.0 × 10¹⁸Hz/s) and fast switching at 50 MHz, both of which are made possible by integration of the electro-optic effect. Moreover, the device co-lases at infrared and visible frequencies via the second-harmonic frequency conversion process, the first such integrated multi-color laser. Combined with its narrow linewidth and wide tunability, this new type of integrated laser holds promise for many applications including LiDAR, microwave photonics, atomic physics, and AR/VR.

In this Letter, we have demonstrated wavelength beam combining (WBC) through hybrid integration of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to significantly reduce the size, weight, and operation power of the laser combining system. The hybrid integration WBC includes III/V semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), which provide gain, and the silicon nitride PICs, which perform as the external cavity. We first show that the arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) -based hybrid laser defines the lasing wavelength through the AWG passband. We then demonstrate that the AWG successfully forms multiple channel lasers by combining SOAs in the hybrid platform.

Chip-scale, tunable narrow-linewidth hybrid integrated diode lasers based on quantum-dot RSOAs at 1.3 μm are demonstrated through butt-coupling to a silicon nitride photonic integrated circuit. The hybrid laser linewidth is around 85 kHz, and the tuning range is around 47 nm. Then, a fully integrated beam steerer is demonstrated by combining the tunable diode laser with a waveguide surface grating. Our system can provide beam steering of 4.1° in one direction by tuning the wavelength of the hybrid laser. Besides, a wavelength-tunable triple-band hybrid laser system working at$\sim 1$,$\sim 1.3$, and$\sim 1.55\mathrm{\mu m}$bands is demonstrated for wide-angle beam steering in a single chip.