Widely tunable (45 nm, 5.6 THz) multi-quantum-well three-branch Y3-lasers for WDM networks

A widely tunable semiconductor laser structure, the three-branch Y3-laser, is demonstrated. Using a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) active region, the lasers show a tuning range of 45 nm (5.6 THz) and a sidemode suppression of 25 dB, with potential access to 120 frequency channels. The laser spectral characteristics agree well with the design. Such lasers appear promising for multichannel wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) optical networks. >