Tunable Y laser with reactive ion etched mirror facets suitable for integration

The tunable Y laser is realised for the first time in an integratable form featuring dry etched facets. Reactive ion etching with a CH/sub 4H/sub 2CO/sub 2/ gas mixture is successfully applied for the mirror formation. First devices with asymmetrically dry etched branches exhibit a low cw threshold current of 4/spl times/18 mA and a wide tuning range of 15.6 nm using "single knob" tuning by only one tuning current.<>