STABILITY EVALUATION OF A RIDGE-INTEGRATED LASER MODULATOR BASED ON ABUTT-COUPLING APPROACH

Ridge integrated laser modulator (ILM) devices were fabricated using a butt-coupling technology based on two-gas-source molecular-beam epita xy, A complete stability evaluation was undertaken, including a reliab ility study on discrete lasers, discrete modulators, and integrated de vices, High temperature, high current, and high voltage were applied f or over 1900 h without significant evolution of the electrooptical cha racteristics. A functional aging test at the current corresponding to a 2-mW output power and the modulator bias necessary to reach the maxi mum extinction ratio was performed for more than 1500 h, The butt-coup ling region does not affect the reliability of the integrated devices.