Widely tunable sampled grating DBR laser with integrated electroabsorptionmodulator

We report on the development of the first widely tunable semiconductor lase r with an integrated electroabsorption modulator. The laser is a four-secti on buried-ridge sampled-grating distributed Bragg reflector design. It has a 41-nm continuous tuning range with a maximum tuning current of 23.5 mA fo r the back mirror and 21 mA for the front mirror, The modulator is based on a 0.87-eV bandgap bulk waveguide structure. It is capable of producing mor e than 22 dB of optical extinction over the entire tuning range of the lase r with a -4.0-V bias.