A fully integratable 1.55-μm wavelength continuously tunable asymmetric twin-waveguide distributed Bragg reflector laser

We demonstrate a single-frequency continuously tunable three-section distributed Bragg reflector laser operating at a center wavelength of /spl lambda/₀=1.548 μm using a fully integratable asymmetric twin-waveguide structure. A low-loss tapered mode transformer couples the light between the active waveguide, or gain region, and the passive ridge waveguide where the phase and grating tuning sections are located. The device has a threshold current of 50 mA and output power of nearly 13 mW, with a slope efficiency of 0.12 W/A and a tuning range of 4.8 nm under pulsed operation. An independent phase section is used to continuously tune the wavelength, thus avoiding mode hops. Using a delayed self-heterodyne technique, we determine the linewidth to be (146/spl plusmn/2) kHz.