40 Gb/s Pulse Generation Using Gain Switching of a Commercially Available Laser Module

The laser module contains a single-mode, distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode. The epi-structure of the laser diode is grown by MOCVD as a multiple quantum well heterostructure. The DFB grating is defined by holography, and the laser diode is designed with a co-planar contact metallization to ease RF connection. The laser die is connected to a gold plated AlN microwave substrate that also acts as a heat spreader. The microwave substrate contains an impedance matching resistor for the RF signal as well as a bias-T for the DC bias. 50 ohm Flexguide technology is used for the interconnection between the microwave substrate and the RF feed-through in the wall of the module. The module is build as a 14 pin butterfly package with the RF feed-through designed as a coplanar 50 ohm impedance port. Included in the module are a built-in optical isolator, a thermistor, a thermo-electric cooler, and a photodiode for optical power monitoring.The RF input port was connected to the driver circuit using a coplanar microwave probe. A DC bias and a large signal modulation at 10 GHz was applied to the module to generate chirped pulses. A linear as well as a non-linear soliton compression was used with optical time division multiplexing to generate a 40 Gb/s RZ pattern.The presentation will report on further details on the laser module including chirp characteristics, and show the eye diagrams taken at 10 and 40 Gb/s.