Commercial Tunable Low Cost Laser for WDM

Turable semiconductor sources are essential for the development of WDM networks. Althought many research devices ahve been demonstrated in the laborartory, none is commercially available to date. The goal of this proposal is to develop a laser that offers meets ALL of the requirments for a commercializable tunable source for WDM, including wide tuning range, precise channel spacing, low threshold, high output power, high-speed operation, wavelength stability under large signal modulation, thermo-electrically cooled, fiber coupled, hermetic package, and high reliability. To meet all these goals, we propose to develop a low-cost tunable semiconductor laser with a monolithically integrated electro-absorption modulator. The specifications of the laser will be chosen to be compatible with the needs defined by ARPA sponsored All-Optical Network testbeds. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: Completion of this proposal will enable the commercial intro of the first low cost tunable diode laser for WDM applications, spurring the practical development and deployment of boradband fiber optics communication networks. Applications include the envisioned dats superhighway and new broadband services such as interactive video, HDTV, multimedia, computer networks, and supercomputing.