Wavelength tunable electroabsorption modulated DFB laser with thin film heater

A light source capable of wide-band wavelength tuning is essential to realize more flexible and efficient optical networks in WDM transmission systems. Although tunable electro-absorption (EA) modulated DFB lasers (T-EML) with bent waveguide and tunable DBR lasers integrated with a EA modulator (MD) have been successfully fabricated, the most practical light sources are tuned to the desired WDM channel frequency by the thermal effect. We propose and fabricate a single ridge waveguide T-EML with a thin film heater (TF-H) along the laser ridge by two-step MOVPE including selective area growth.