Electronically tunable external-cavity laser diode using a liquid crystal deflector

A novel external-cavity wavelength tunable laser based on a liquid crystal (LC) deflector is proposed. This device consists of a gain chip, collimating lens, LC deflector, and diffraction grating. By controlling the voltage applied to the LC deflector, a maximum wavelength variation of 12 nm and a sidemode suppression ratio higher than 30 dB are obtained