MONOLITHICALLY INTEGRATED LASER ARRAY

摘要

Optical transmitters for multiplex operation require laser arrays working on the basis of different values of a laser-characteristic variable, i.e. the emission wavelength. In order to prevent cross influences, existing arrays only allow for simultaneous or graded operation of the laser. Moreover, the corresponding coupling networks use up a large part of the optical output power. It is also known that by integrating two additional lasers, three different series of lasers are provided, of which only one is intended for the optical chip. The invention laser array has twice as many lasers (0 ... 9) than required by the transmission channels while maintaining said selected setting for a desired laser operation and distributes said lasers to the three series (A, B, C) by pair allocation in such a way that an unused laser is always arranged in-between two used lasers. Cross influences are considerably suppressed with such a spatial distance. In addition, the corresponding coupling network has one step less than conventional networks and uses both 3dB coupler outputs so that the targeted output power can be doubled.