Demonstration of a semiconductor external cavity laser utilising a UV written grating in a planar silica waveguide

We have demonstrated for the first time the use of a UV written grating in a photosensitive planar silica waveguide as a feedback element in an external cavity semiconductor waveguide laser. This device was tested in a 2.5 GBit/s system over 100 km of standard fibre and was shown to suffer negligible receiver sensitivity loss, (0.35 dB) for a 10/sup -9/ BER as compared with a back-to-back measurement.