1.55‐μm InGaAsP ridge waveguide distributed feedback laser

Optical and modulation properties of ridge waveguide distributed feedback lasers grown by liquid phase epitaxy and operating in the spectral region of 1.51–1.58 μm have been investigated. These lasers were characterized by room temperature cw threshold currents as low as 40 mA, external quantum efficiency of up to 40%, and lowest order transverse mode operation up to 10 mW. Stable, single longitudinal mode operation under direct modulation of up to 4 GHz was obtained using second order gratings fabricated by electron beam writing as well as optical holography. The absence of partition mode events has allowed routine error free transmission over 60 km of single mode fiber at data rates of 2 Gb/s. The relationship between grating parameters and the Bragg length has been studied experimentally and compared with the theoretical results.