Granted Patent B2

US 6,839,377 · App. 10/253,162 · Granted Jan 4, 2005

Abstract

Claims (37)

1. An optoelectronic device, comprising:

a device body including an active region having a device length defined by a back facet and a front facet;

an internal grating located within said device body and adjacent said active region and said front facet and being closer to said front facet than said back facet;

an anti-reflective coating on said front facet; and

an external grated waveguide located adjacent said front facet, said external grated waveguide configured to cause a portion of radiation emanating from said device body to be reflected back through said front facet and into said device body.

2. The optoelectronic device as recited in claim 1 , wherein said device further including a lens located between said anti-reflective coating and said external grated waveguide.

3. The optoelectronic device as recited in claim 1 , wherein said device body has a device length (L d ) and said external grated waveguide has a diffraction grating length (L g ) of less than about 4% of said device length (L d ).

4. The optoelectronic device as recited in claim 1 , wherein said external grated waveguide is located between about 12 and about 102 cm from said front facet.

5. The optoelectronic device as recited in claim 1 wherein said internal grating comprises a diffraction grating whose length, when multiplied by a grating coupling constant of said diffraction grating, ranges from about 0.01 to about 0.15, and said diffraction grating is offset from said front facet by a distance ranging from about 0 μm to about 300 μm.

6. The optoelectronic device as recited in claim 5 , wherein said internal grating is configured to have a reflectivity that causes said optoelectronic device to simultaneously operate on multiple cavity modes at low bias currents, thereby providing stable operation at low power.

7. The optoelectronic device as recited in claim 5 , wherein said device length is greater than about 1.3 mm and said diffraction grating length ranges from about 10 μm to about 50 82 m.

8. The optoelectronic device as recited in claim 1 wherein said optoelectronic device further includes a spacer layer having a thickness ranging from about 0.15 μm to about 1 μm between said internal grating and said active region.

9. A method of manufacturing an optoelectronic device, comprising:

providing a device body including an active region having a device length defined by a back facet and a front facet;

forming an internal grating located within said device body and adjacent said active region and said front facet and being closer to said front facet than to said back facet;

layering an anti-reflective coating on said front facet; and

forming external grated waveguide and coupling said waveguide to said front facet so as to provide an optical path between said active region and said waveguide.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , further including providing a lens located between said anti-reflective coating and said external grated waveguide.

11. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein providing includes providing a device body having a device length (L d ) and forming said external grated waveguide further includes forming an external grated waveguide that has a diffraction grating length (L g )of less than about 4% of said device length (L d ).

12. The method as recited in claim 9 , further including forming said external grated waveguide about 12 cm and about 102 cm from said front facet.

13. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein forming said internal grating comprises forming a diffraction grating whose length, when multiplied by a grating coupling constant of said diffraction grating, ranges from about 0.01 to about 0.15, and said diffraction grating is offset from said front facet by a distance ranging from about 0 μm to about 300 μm.

14. The method as recited in claim 13 , further including forming said diffraction grating having a length less than about 4 percent of said device length.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 , further including forming said device length of greater than about 1.3 mm, and forming said internal grating wherein said internal grating length ranges from about from about 10 μm to about 50 μm.

16. The method as recited in claim 14 , further including forming a spacer layer having a thickness ranging from about 0.15 μm to about 1 μm between said internal grating and said active region.

17. An optical communications system, comprising:

an optical device, including;

a device body including an active region having a device length defined by a back facet and a front facet and an internal grating located adjacent said active region and said front facet and being closer to said front facet than to said back facet;

an anti-reflective coating on said front facet; and

an external grated waveguide located adjacent said front facet, said grated waveguide configured to cause a portion of radiation emanating from said device body to be reflected back through said front facet and into said device body;

an optical waveguide coupled to said external grated waveguide; and

an optical transmitter device and receiver device coupled to said optical device.

18. The optical communications system as recited in claim 17 wherein said optical device is a laser and said system further includes devices coupled to said optoelectronic device that are selected from the group consisting of:

photodetectors,

optical combiners, and

optical amplifiers.

19. The optical communications system as recited in claim 17 , wherein said device body has a device length (L d ) and said external grated waveguide has a diffraction grating length (L g ) of less than about 4% of said device length (L d ).

20. The optical communications system as recited in claim 17 , further including said grated waveguide located between about 12 cm and about 102 cm from said front facet.

Assignments (7)