Improved spectral characteristics of MQW-DFB lasers by incorporation of multiple phase-shifts

The single-mode stability of strained-layer MQW-DFB lasers with electron-beam written gratings containing zero, one and three phase-shifts, and with a relatively large coupling strength, has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. The fabricated lasers with the multiple phase-shifted (MPS) structure exhibited a higher degree of stability than the λ/4-shifted lasers, and a considerably improved stability for both categories with phase-shifts compared to the nonshifted lasers was obtained. These results were in good agreement with our simulations. An investigation of the linewidths of the phase-shifted lasers is also presented. The MPS lasers had a significantly lower linewidth floor (down to 600 kHz) than those with one phase-shift. There was no degradation of the side-mode suppression-ratio correlated to the linewidth floor or rebroadening. A possible explanation for the lower linewidth floors obtained for the MPS lasers is that this structure is less sensitive to inhomogeneous carrier fluctuations. Longitudinal fluctuations in the shape of the photon density distribution will thereby be suppressed