A Novel Two-Section Tunable Slotted Fabry-Perot Laser Exhibiting ns Wavelength Switching

In this paper, a new design of a widely tunable laser diode is proposed and demonstrated. Mode selection occurs by etching perturbing slots into the laser ridge. A two-section device is realized with different slot patterns in the two sections allowing Vernier tuning. The laser operates at 1310 nm and a discontinuous tuning range of 30 nm was obtained with a maximum side mode suppression of 30 dB. Wavelength switching times of approximately 1.5 ns between a number of different channels separated by 7 nm have been demonstrated.