VERTICAL CAVITY LASERS FOR SUB-CARRIER MULTIPLEXED 1.55 UM WDM SYSTEMS

Optical Concepts, Inc. will use arrays consisting of one reference laser, and many signal lasers which are frequency offset locked to the reference, with different offsets. In this way, 10 or more channels can occupy a bandwidth of less than one nanometer, and the lasers can be tuned by small adjustments in bias current. Wavelength shifts of 1-2 nm in adjacent arrays can be fabricated by step-etching prior to top mirror deposition, as described in this report. In this way, large VCSEL arrays could ultimately provide densely-spaced channels covering the Erbium amplifier band. Realization of this system requires advancing the state of long-wavelength VCSELs, using design procedures described in this proposal. It also requires specifying power and linewidth requirements for these lasers, based on system calculations.