Extremely small-chirp electroabsorption-modulator integrated distributed feedback laser diode with a shallow quantum-well absorption layer

We have developed an extremely small-chirp electroabsorption modulator integrated with a distributed feedback laser diode (EAM-DFB-LD) with a novel shallow quantum-well (QW) absorption layer. By using a shallow QW absorption layer, the estimated lifetime of the photogenerated holes and thus the estimated concentration of the holes generated by optical absorption has been reduced to 9% of that for a conventional QW. It was experimentally confirmed that the excess chirp due to the pileup of carriers has been reduced to 10% of that for a conventional QW, and this result is consistent with the estimates. The shallow QW EAM-DFB-LD has shown a chirp parameter |α| less than 0.7 over the entire range of the EAM reverse bias voltage of 0-3 V. Finally, successful 10-Gb/s return to zero transmission has been confirmed through both positive dispersion (+425 ps/nm) and negative dispersion (-425 ps/nm).