Dual-Color Operation of a Laser Diode Under Current and Temperature Control

We describe a novel method that operates a laser diode with dual colors. Our system requires no external optical parts but does require current and temperature control. We can use either a single color on a time-sharing basis or dual colors simultaneously. The difference between the wavelengths is ~0.6 nm, which is as much as 10 times that generated by current control alone. Temporal stability of the generated two wavelengths and the response time of the wavelength change were confirmed through a number of experiments.