Abstract

Tunable lasers are desired for optical networking applications ranging from one time wavelength provisioning and sparing to dynamic wavelength provisioning in re-configurable optical add/drop multiplexers, photonic cross-connects, and all-optical regenerators. Several tunable laser technologies with direct or integrated modulation (≥2.5 Gb/s) have been demonstrated.^1–4 Among those only the Sampled Grating Distributed Bragg Reflector (SG-DBR) laser architecture combines the advantages of wide tuning range, high output power, simplicity for integration with other components, ^4–6 and high reliability.⁷ In this paper we report on a tunable 2.5 Gb/s transmitter based on a SG-DBR laser monolithically integrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), and an electro-absorption modulator (EA) modulator, and demonstrate transmission over distances required in long-reach metro applications.

© 2002 Optical Society of America