Widely tunable distributed forward coupled (DFC) laser

Abstract

A novel widely tunable laser diode, the distributed forward coupled (DFC) laser, is presented. Exploiting the codirectional mode coupling over the entire laser length, a convenient tuning by one single control current appears feasible over 50–100 nm. Compared to previous approaches, the wavelength selectivity can be improved by about an order of magnitude. The technological realisation and experimental results on first devices are reported.