2.5-Gb/s modulated widely tunable laser using an electroabsorption modulated DFB array and MEMS selection

A widely tunable 2.5-Gb/s modulated source using a distributed feedback (DFB) array and electroabsorption (EA) modulators is demonstrated. In order to overcome the optical bandwidth limitation of a single modulator, a 12 element array of modulators with varying bandgaps is integrated with a corresponding DFB array at different wavelengths. Selective area growth enables the bandgap of the modulators to be finely adjusted at a 10-μm pitch. A microelectromechanical system mirror selects the output of a particular EA and couples the light into fiber. Uniform high-speed modulation could be obtained in a butterfly package over a 36-nm tuning range.