Lasing characteristics of InP-based InAs quantum dots depending on InGaAsP waveguide conditions.

We report the influences of a dot-in-a-well structure with a thin GaAs layer and the thickness of a waveguide (WG) on the lasing characteristics of InAs quantum dots (QDs) based on InP. The QD laser diodes (QDLDs) consist of seven-stacked InAs QDs separated by a 10 nm-thick InGaAsP (1.15 µm, 1.15Q-InGaAsP) layer, which is further sandwiched by a 800 nm-thick 1.15Q-lnGaAsP WG (reference QDLD). For comparison, the InAs QDs were inserted into the InGaAsP (1.35 µm, 1.35Q-InGaAsP) quantum well embedded in the 1.15Q-InGaAsP matrix at the active layer. And a 2 monolayer (ML)-thick GaAs layer was additionally introduced right before the QD layer (GDWELL-LDs). Lasing emission from the reference QDLD with only the 1.15Q-InGaAsP structure was not observed at room temperature (RT). However, the lasing emission from the GDWELL-LDs was clearly observed at the wavelength of 1.46 µm at RT under continuous-wave (CW) mode. The threshold current density of the GDWELL-LD with the 800 nm-thick InGaAsP WG was measured to be 830 A/cm2, which was lower than that of the GDWELL-LD with the 200 nm-thick WG (900 A/cm2). Also, the slope efficiency of the GDWELL-LD was significantly improved with increasing thickness of the InGaAsP WG.

2.5-Gb/s hybridly-integrated tunable external cavity laser using a superluminescent diode and a polymer Bragg reflector.

We presented a hybridly-integrated tunable external cavity laser with 0.8 nm mode spacing 16 channels operating in the direct modulation of 2.5-Gbps for a low-cost source of a WDM-PON system. The tunable laser was fabricated by using a superluminescent diode (SLD) and a polymer Bragg reflector. The maximum output power and the power slope efficiency of the tunable laser were 10.3 mW and 0.132 mW/mA, respectively, at the SLD current of 100 mA and the temperature of 25 degrees C. The directly-modulated tunable laser successfully provided 2.5-Gbps transmissions through 20-km standard single mode fiber. The power penalty of the tunable laser was less than 0.8 dB for 16 channels after a 20-km transmission. The power penalty variation was less than 1.4 dB during the blue-shifted wavelength tuning.

L-band tunable external cavity laser based on 1.58 µm superluminescent diode integrated with spot-size converter.

We report a 1.58 µm superluminescent diode (SLD) with a spot-size converter (SSC) designed and fabricated as a light source for a tunable external cavity laser (T-ECL). The active section of the SLD is fabricated by using a planar buried heterostructure (PBH) for low-threshold current and high-output power operation at a low injection current. The SSC structure of the SLD is designed to possess a buried deep-ridge waveguide (BD-RWG) and show a beam of less divergence. The full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of the horizontal and vertical far-field patterns (FFPs), due to the beam of the less divergence, are 14° and 13°, respectively. We also confirm that an L-band T-ECL employing the SSC SLD operates well enough to prove the characteristics of high performance.

Improvement of modulation bandwidth in multisection RSOA for colorless WDM-PON.

We demonstrated two-section reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) with dramatic improvement of small-signal modulation bandwidth above 10 GHz as colorless source for wavelength division multiplexed-passive optical network (WDM-PON). The device provides the fiber-to-fiber gain of 22.8 dB, 3-dB amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) bandwidth of 30 nm, and ripple of 1.5 dB. Good performance at 2.5 Gbps was obtained with an extinction ratio of 8 dB and a power penalty of 2 dB at a 10(-9) bit error rate (BER) up to 20 km transmission.

Tunable external cavity laser employing uncooled superluminescent diode.

We have fabricated a tunable external cavity laser (T-ECL) based on a superluminescent diode and a polymeric waveguide Bragg reflector, providing a cost-effective solution for wavelength division multiplexing-passive optical network (WDM-PON) systems. The wavelength of the T-ECL is tuned through 100 GHz-spacing 16 channels by the thermo-optic tuning of the refractive index of the polymer waveguide at a low input power of 70 mW. The maximum output power and the slope efficiency of the uncooled diode at 20 (75) degrees C are 8.83 (3.80) mW and 0.107 (0.061) W/A, respectively. The T-ECL operated successfully in the direct modulation for 1.25 Gbit/s transmissions over 20 km.

Wavelength shift of InP-based InAs quantum dot lasers above room temperature.

For the InAs quantum dot (QD) lasers based on the InAlGaAs-InAlAs-InP material system, the lasing operation was successfully achieved up to 100 degrees C. The lasing wavelength was linearly increased with a slope of 0.100 nm/K up to 50 degrees C and then, decreased with (-)0.419 nm/K above 50 degrees C. The temperature-induced shift in the lasing wavelength can be attributed to both the band-gap shrinkage and the band-filling effect of carriers, which was well agreed with the characteristic temperatures of the InAs QD laser calculated from the temperature dependence of threshold current density.