Abstract

Enhanced system complexity has led to a demand for increased transparency to minimise overall losses when passing through many nodes. In achieving this goal all-fibre devices will play an increasingly important role and hence significant efforts have been directed towards developing these components. Fiber distributed feedback (DFB) lasers have attracted much attention in recent years because they exhibit near ideal characteristics for application as both telecommunications sources for dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) systems^1–3 and in sensing systems,⁴ this from the point of view of their inherent fiber compatibility supporting enhanced systems transparency, relative ease of fabrication, near perfect performance in terms of ultra-low relative intensity noise (RIN) and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Furthermore, powers greater than 13 dBm with single frequency, single polarization and single sided outputs have been demonstrated strongly favouring these devices for alignment to for example external modulators.⁵

© 2002 Optical Society of America