High-speed and long-term wavelength stabilization of tunable distributed amplification distributed feedback laser after laser activation with feedforward and feedback control

Abstract

To manage recent exponentially increasing data traffic, optical-to-optical burst switching and packet switching systems have been attracting much attention because they do not require an optical-to-electrical and an electrical-to-optical conversions. These systems require high-speed optical switches with a large number of input/output ports. As a candidate for the optical switch, we have focused on the combination of wavelength tunable lasers and an arrayed waveguide grating router, and studied the tunable distributed amplification distributed feedback (TDA-DFB) lasers for the optical switch. Previously, our derived feedforward current control achieved high-speed wavelength switching at a single laser in six-arrayed TDA-DFB lasers. For larger-scale optical switching, wavelength switching from a laser to another in an array is required to cover a wide tunable range. In this study, we develop a novel current control model and successfully stabilize the wavelength immediately after laser activation, which would enable high-speed switching between different lasers. Furthermore, we demonstrate the combination of feedforward and feedback controls for high-speed switching with long-term stability.