High modulation efficiency and high power 1060 nm tapered lasers with separate contacts

Abstract

A high direct optical modulation amplitude of more than 1.6 W, modulation efficiencies of 20 W/A at 700 Mbit/s and 50 W/A for quasi-static modulation, and a very high optical extinction ratio of 19 dB have been demonstrated in custom-designed gain guided tapered lasers emitting at 1060 nm. The devices were fabricated with split contacts, allowing the separate injection of the ridge waveguide and tapered sections. The modulation of a large output power with low modulating current was achieved by modulating the current injected into the ridge waveguide section of the device.