Subnanosecond tunable distributed Bragg reflector lasers with an electrooptical Bragg section

For the first time, a DBR laser with an electrooptical Bragg section is reported for fast wavelength tuning operation. This structure is based on the photonic integration of a Fabry-Perot buried ridge stripe laser with a ridge waveguide modulator in which the grating is etched. By proper structure design and adjustment of the Franz-Keldysh quaternary gap used in the Bragg section, a 2.5-nm tuning range with six distinct modes is obtained for a -4 V voltage applied to the Bragg section. Under this tuning, the optical-output power variation is limited to 2.5 dB for a 370-/spl mu/m DBR length. Using this concept, we measured the best switching time between different wavelength channels ever reported on DBR lasers, on this device: 500 ps independently of the wavelength shift.<
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