Optical transmitter having optically pumped vertical external cavity surface emitting laser
US6741629B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 22, 2000 |
| Grant date | May 25, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 22, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S5/18377
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical fiber transmitter comprises an optically pumped single mode MQW VECSEL for emitting an information-carrying laser beam and has an external cavity length defining a comb of optical modes, each mode corresponding to a channel wavelength of an optical telecommunications system having plural optical channels. A semiconductor structure of the VECSEL has an optical-pump-excited multiple quantum well (MQW) homogeneously broadened gain region active over a band which is less than mode-to-mode spacing, the gain region being tunable to hop from a first mode to an adjacent second mode. A tuning arrangement tunes the VECSEL from mode to mode thereby to select each one of the plural optical channels. An optical modulator adds modulation to a beam emitting from the laser to provide the information-carrying laser beam, and a coupler couples the information-carrying laser beam into an optical fiber of the optical telecommunications system. A calibration method based on detecting inter-mode optical transitions (mode hopping) is described.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.