Abstract

Widely tunable SGDBR lasers present tremendous opportunities for developing high functionality photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for present wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) communication networks and as an enabling technology for developing future fiber optic networking architectures. The inherent difficulty in manufacturing these devices stems from the one dimensional growth platform used to produce the epitaxial material, whereas, the complex nature of PICs demand the integration of devices with differing functionality to be produced on the same chip. Due to the lithographically defined mirrors the SGDBR lends itself to integration with other components, such as semiconductor optical amplifiers, electro-absorption modulators, and passive waveguides [1,2]. Such devices including the sampled-grating DBR (SGDBR) require the structure to vary orthogonal to the growth direction.

© 2002 Optical Society of America