THERMAL COMPENSATION IN SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS

摘要

The present invention relates to methods for modulating a semiconductor laser and wavelength matching to a wavelength converter using monolithic micro-heaters integrated in the semiconductor laser. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of compensating for thermally induced patterning effects, e.g. wavelength drift, in a semiconductor laser is provided where the laser's heating element driving current I<SUB>H</SUB> is set to a relatively high magnitude when the laser's driving current I<SUB>D</SUB> is at a relatively low magnitude. The heating element driving current I<SUB>H</SUB> decreases from said relatively high magnitude to said relatively low magnitude at a time ?t prior to an increase in said laser driving current I<SUB>D</SUB> from said relatively low magnitude to said relatively high magnitude. The semiconductor laser may be a DBR laser diode comprising a wavelength selective region (12), a phase matching region (14), and a gain region (16), each region provided with a pair of heating element strips (62,64).