Abstract:Photonic integration, as a future trend for all-optical communication networks, is a key solution for realizing high speed optical communication. As the development of Si-based integrated circuits, the most urgent issue in the field of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) currently is to find a basic building block, and realize the most functions in PICs. Due to the abundant functions and good integration of semiconductor ring resonator, it becomes the most potential candidate for large-scale PICs. In this paper, firstly the fundamental principle and characteristics of semiconductor ring lasers (SRLs) are introduced, and the recent advances and applications of InP-based SRLs are summarized in the fields of integrated light sources and all-optical signal processing.