Dynamic measurements on narrow linewidth complex coupled 1.55 /spl mu/m DFB lasers with gain and index grating in antiphase

Abstract

We report on dynamic measurements on antiphase complex coupled 1.55 /spl mu/m DFB lasers. The antiphase complex coupling mechanism is realized by periodically etching the active layer and quarternary InGaAsP overgrowth. This new fabrication approach results in very narrow linewidths measured on devices with rather short resonator lengths. The minimum linewidth for a 375 /spl mu/m long ridge waveguide laser was only 250 kHz at an optical output power of 4 mW. The RC-limited 3dB-bandwidth for those devices was /spl sim/6 GHz. Using circuit model corrections, the intrinsic bandwidth limitation of those lasers was found to be 17.4 GHz.