Improved Sampled Grating DBR Widely-Tunable 1.55 micron Lasers.

Abstract

The main area of research for this year was improving both the output power and the tuning range of the SGDBR lasers. To improve the output power we increased the number of quantum wells in the active region from four to six. This also broadened the gain spectrum enabling a wider tuning range. Devices with up to 0.6 mW of output power and 72 nm tuning ranges were realized. Current laser results indicate that leakage current is a major factor in limiting the device performance. To eliminate the parasitic leakage paths we have begun to investigate Fe doped blocking junctions for the device. Work on the wavelength monitor has focused on an external approach which uses a wavelength dependent coupler in conjunction with a pair of photodetectors. Initial results show better than 1 nm sensitivity over a 30 nm range. The most recent work on the laser has focused on integrating additional components for increased functionality. We have developed a specially designed semiconductor optical amplifier that can be integrated with the laser to increase the output power to greater than 6 mW. We have also investigated SGDBR lasers with integrated electro-absorption modulators. Using a 300 micrometers long bulk EA modulator we have demonstrated error free data transmission at 2.5 GBit/s with a 231-1 pattern length at received powers of -32.5 dBm.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 15, 1999
Accession Number
ADA369438

Entities

People

  • Bech Mason
  • L.A. Coldren

Organizations

  • University of California, Santa Barbara

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Abstracts
  • Amplifiers
  • Antireflection Coatings
  • Data Transmission
  • Diagrams
  • Electro-Absorption Modulators
  • Electron Microscopes
  • Lasers
  • Modulation
  • Modulators
  • Quantum Wells
  • Reflection
  • Scanning Electron Microscopes
  • Semiconductors
  • Sensitivity
  • Waveguides

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics
  • Quantum Computing