Relative intensity noise and linewidth measurements of a widely tunable GCSR laser

The intensity and frequency noise of a grating assisted codirectional coupler with rear sampled grating reflector laser with 40-nm tuning range and 35-dB sidemode suppression ratio (SMSR) have been measured. The linewidth varies from 430 kHz to 4 MHz as a function of tuning. The resonance frequency, intrinsic bandwidth and damping factor for this device were extracted from the relative intensity noise (RIN) measurements. At high bias, the RIN is -150 dB/Hz and the maximum resonance frequency is 4.5 GHz.