External cavity diode lasers with ridge-waveguide type broad contact semiconductor optical amplifiers

摘要

External cavity lasers (ECLs) have been around for many years and are recognised as useful tunable narrow line light sources. In this communication we present space resolved spectral characteristics of the ECLs with a standard glass grating and ridge-waveguide broad-contact optical amplifiers (SOAs). The gain of the SOAs was centered in the range of 960 to 980 nm. The spectral characteristics have been measured with an optical spectrum analyzer. The results are compared with the ones obtained after the glass grating was substituted by a grating made from silicon. Application of such silicon gratings can be considered as a first step towards ECLs made fully in a MEMS configuration.