Wavelength shift enhancement in quantum-well intermixed distributed-feedback lasers

Author

Zhan, L. ; Chan, K.S. ; Pun, E.Y.B. ; Ho, H.P.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., City Polytech. of Hong Kong, Kowloon, China

Volume

14

Issue

6

fYear

2002

fDate

6/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

744

Lastpage

746

Abstract

The maximum possible shift in emission wavelength of a quantum-well (QW) intermixed distributed-feedback (DFB) laser as a function of degree of intermixing is studied. In a recent experiment, the wavelength shift of a QW intermixed DFB laser is around 13% of the bandgap blue shift. Our study indicates that if a smaller grating period is used, the wavelength shift can be increased by four times to 50% of the bandgap blue shift, because it is not necessary to change the carrier density significantly in order to maintain a modal gain above lasing threshold. The maximum tuning range is found to be 20 nm, indicating that QW intermixing can be used to fabricate multiwavelength DFB laser arrays for wavelength-division-multiplexing communication systems.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; chemical interdiffusion; diffraction gratings; distributed feedback lasers; gallium arsenide; indium compounds; laser tuning; quantum well lasers; semiconductor laser arrays; semiconductor quantum wells; spectral line shift; waveguide lasers; InGaAsP; InGaAsP quaternary QWs; QW intermixed DFB laser; bandgap blue shift; degree of intermixing; effective refractive index; grating period; lasing threshold; maximum possible emission wavelength shift; maximum tuning range; modal gain; multiwavelength DFB laser arrays; quantum-well disordering; quantum-well intermixed distributed-feedback lasers; ridge waveguide /spl lambda//4-shifted DFB laser; wavelength shift enhancement; wavelength-division-multiplexing communication systems; Arrayed waveguide gratings; Communication systems; Laser stability; Laser theory; Laser tuning; Optical arrays; Photonic band gap; Quantum well lasers; Waveguide lasers; Wavelength division multiplexing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2002.1003079

Filename

1003079