Design of sampled grating DBR lasers with integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers

High output powers and wide range quasicontinuous tuning have been achieved in a sampled-grating distributed Bragg reflector laser with an integrated semiconductor-optical-amplifier. Using an amplifier with a curved passive output waveguide to suppress back reflection, we have achieved a quasicontinuous tuning range of over 50 nm and peak output powers greater than +8 dBm. Optimizing the device structure and the sampled-grating mirror design has enabled tuning ranges of up to 72 nm in devices without amplifiers.