Hybrid laser for optical communications

Abstract

In the interest of ease of manufacture, hybrid lasers of distributed-Bragg-reflector type are preferred for use as light sources in optical communications. We have found that such lasers are prone to mode instabilities which can adversely affect the error rate. However, by making the reflectance peak of the Bragg reflector sufficiently wide that it is capable of supporting two or more modes of optical radiation it is possible to render mode instability of negligible influence on error rate, provided that mode dispersion is not a problem.Published versio