A widely tunable SOA-integrated DBR laser by combination of sampled and superstructure gratings

We report on the development of the first 30 nm tunable laser diode utilizing a front sampled grating-distributed Bragg reflector (SG-DBR) and a rear superstructure grating DBR (SSG-DBR). A high output power greater than 18 mW was achieved with superior longitudinal mode stability, as well as an overall power variation of less than 3 dB for the well-defined laser. Furthermore, lasers integrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) enabled the output power to be controlled independently both by the active current and the SOA current, as well as achieving a maximum output power of 45 mW. The side-mode suppression ratio was in excess of 40 dB for all the 50 GHz spaced wavelength channels.