SBIR Phase II: Wavelength-Selective Lasers for Photonic Integrated Circuits

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II research project will address the commercial need for novel, wavelength-selective laser diodes for 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications. The distributed feedback lasers currently used in 10 Gigabit Ethernet transceivers are fabricated using an expensive, low-yield, epitaxial re-growth process. The drawbacks of this method are the high cost of the capital equipment and of the manufacturing process. In addition, the lower yields encountered with the multiple regrowths required to fabricate complex photonic circuits make cost-effective integrated photonic components difficult to achieve. A novel laser diode design and high-yield manufacturing method that will enable the fabrication of low-cost wavelength-selective and tunable laser diodes for optical communications has been developed. This research will refine the design and fabricate both discrete and integrated devices for 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications. The major scientific and technical benefit of this work is an improved method for fabricating lasers and other optoelectronic devices. The work should also result in arrays of novel, wavelength selectable lasers suitable for use in high-speed data communications applications. The main societal impact will be the increased availability of low-cost, high-speed data communications, which is a significant contributor to economic development. Making lower cost lasers will enable a significant reduction in the cost of transceivers, which will increase the rate at which high speed Ethernet penetrates the data network.