Widely tunable distributed Bragg reflector laser with an integrated electroabsorption modulator

Abstract

Electroabsorption waveguide modulators based on the Franz-Keldysh effect or on the quantum confined Stark effect have been reported extensively in the GaAs and the InP material systems.1,2 Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) composed of lasers and integrated electroabsorption modulators have been previously reported using a single-frequency distributed feedback (DFB) laser.3,4 In this work we report a PIC made of a bulk electroabsorption modulator and a multiple quantum well (MQW) distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser operating at the 1.55-μm wavelength region. The DBR laser is discretely tunable over a wide tuning range of 130 Å, and can be digitally modulated by the integrated modulator at high bit rates while maintaining spectral stability. This device can therefore be useful for wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems and for WDM optical switching applications.