Tunable V-cavity Semiconductor Laser and Modules

We present the principle, design, packaging and measurement results of widely tunable V-cavity lasers. By using a novel half-wave coupler, single-mode lasing with high side mode-suppression-ratio is achieved. Single-electrode controlled wide-band wavelength tuning with Vernier effect is realized. The full-band tuning of 50 channels with 100 GHz spacing is demonstrated by further employing temperature induced gain spectrum shift. The laser is packaged into a small-form-factor 9-pin TOSA, and the electronic driver has been developed for the wavelength tuning and direct modulation. The advantages of compactness, fabrication simplicity, and easy wavelength control offer great potential for the tunable laser to be used in low-cost access and data center networks, as well as in portable devices for spectroscopic analysis.