Study of wavelength shift in InGaAs/InAlGaAs QW DFB lasers based on laser parameters from a comparison of experiment and theory

Experimental data of InGaAs/InAlGaAs quantum well distributed feedback (DFB) lasers such as spectra, under continuous and pulsed biasing, relative intensity noise and linewidth, are compared with the results of model calculations based on a transfer matrix method. Using experimental data of different lasers, a set of physical DFB laser parameters was determined. We succeeded in describing all the experimental data of different lasers by the same set. The determined parameter set was further applied to study the influence of facet properties on the wavelength shift of DFB lasers. We found a very strong dependence of the wavelength tunability on the end facet phases. The wavelength shift varies by a factor up to three between different end facet phases and coatings. This is crucial for the yield of, for example, tunable multisection DFB lasers with an envisaged large tuning range