Single and tunable dual-wavelength operation of an InGaAs-GaAs ridge waveguide distributed Bragg reflector laser

The design and operation of an InGaAs-GaAs asymmetric cladding ridge waveguide (RW) distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser that can be operated in both a single-wavelength mode and a stable, dual-wavelength mode with tunable mode pair separation are reported. The asymmetric cladding RW-DBR laser consists of a conventional DBR laser with an additional, separate tuning contact pad over a part of the grating. The laser operates on a single-wavelength with no current applied to the tuning DBR pad, and dual-wavelength operation is achieved when current is applied to the tuning DBR pad. Tunable mode pair separations as small as /spl sim/13 nm and as large as /spl sim/17 nm can be achieved in various tuning conditions.