Small packaged tunable laser assembly

1. A small, packaged tunable laser comprising:

a rectangular housing having a volume of less than 0.6 cubic centimeters, with six planar exterior walls including a bottom, a top, opposing first and second ends, and opposing sidewalls, the exterior walls forming a hermetically sealed interior space that includes a major axis that extends through the first and second ends;

an electrical input interface positioned on the exterior of the housing;

an optical output interface positioned on the exterior of the housing and aligned with the major axis, the optical output interface configured to transmit a continuous wave optical beam;

a tunable semiconductor laser positioned in the interior space and operable to emit a laser beam having a selectable wavelength;

a beam splitter positioned in the interior space of the housing and in the path of the laser beam for producing a first beam, and a second beam;

an optical isolator positioned in the interior space of the housing and in the path of the first beam downstream of the beam splitter to prevent the incoming light from the beam splitter from reflecting back through the beam splitter and into the cavity of the laser;

a photodiode in the interior space of the housing and disposed in the path of the second beam for determining the emitted intensity of the laser beam; and

coupling optics in the interior space of the housing and downstream of the optical isolator for coupling the optical beam to the optical output interface.

2. The tunable laser of claim 1 , wherein the tunable semiconductor laser is an external cavity laser that includes a tunable filter, and wherein the optical path of the optical beam is aligned along the major axis of the housing.

3. The tunable laser of claim 2 , wherein the tunable filter comprises a Vernier tuning mechanism including respective first and second optical filters having respective sets of transmission peaks having slightly different free spectral ranges and similar finesses, and wherein tuning is performed by shifting the set of transmission peaks of the second optical filter relative to the set of transmission peaks of the first optical filter to align a single transmission peak of each of the first and second sets of transmission peaks.

4. The tunable laser of claim 3 , further including a cavity length actuator positioned in the interior space along an optical path of the beam downstream from the first optical filter and along the optical path of the beam emitted from the first optical filter and functioning to adjust and lock an optical pathlength of the external cavity tunable laser.

5. The tunable laser of claim 4 , wherein the cavity length actuator is a block of silicon having a planar surface tilted with respect to the optical axis to prevent the incoming light from the laser from reflecting back into the cavity of the laser.

6. The tunable laser of claim 3 , further comprising a cavity length actuator disposed between the first and second optical filters of the Vernier tuning mechanism, and further including an anti-reflection coating or band pass filter on its planar surface.

7. The tunable laser of claim 1 , further comprising a base in the interior of the housing; a structure operatively coupled to the base, having a front facet and a substantially non-reflective rear facet optically coupled via a waveguide passing therethrough, the structure further including a gain section to emit a plurality of photons in response to a first electrical input, and having a facet defining the rear facet of the structure.

8. The tunable laser of claim 7 , further including a thermoelectric cooler positioned within the interior space between the bottom of the housing and at least one of the tunable semiconductor laser and the coupling optics.

9. The tunable laser of claim 1 , further comprising a piezoelectric transducer coupled to the optical isolator.

10. The tunable laser of claim 1 , further comprising a ferrule having an entry aperture disposed adjacent to the coupling optics, wherein the entry aperture has a planar face which is inclined at an angle of from five to seven degrees from a plane which is normal to the incoming central beam from the coupling optics so as to prevent reflections of the incoming beam from the surface of the planar entry end face from going back into the coupling optics.

11. The tunable laser of claim 1 , wherein the electrical input interface includes a row of pins extending from the housing to enable an electrical connector to be coupled thereto.

12. A small, packaged tunable laser subassembly comprising:

a rectangular housing with six planar sides including a bottom, a top, first end, second end, and two opposing sidewalls, the housing including a hermetically sealed interior space with a length measured between the first and second ends and a width measured between the opposing sidewalls, the length being larger than the width;

laser components positioned in the interior space and including coupling optics and an external cavity laser with a tunable filter, the laser components aligned within the interior space with an optical path of a laser beam that emanates at the external cavity laser and extends along the coupling optics substantially perpendicular to the first and second ends and along a portion of the length of the housing;

an electrical input interface positioned at the first end of the housing; and

an optical output interface positioned at the second end of the housing and configured to transmit a continuous wave optical signal;

a beam splitter positioned in the interior space of the housing and in the path of the laser beam for producing a first beam, and a second beam;

an optical isolator positioned in the interior space of the housing and in the path of the first beam downstream of the beam splitter to prevent the incoming light from the beam splitter from reflecting back through the beam splitter and into the cavity of the laser;

a photodiode in the interior space of the housing and disposed in the path of the second beam for determining the emitted intensity of the laser beam; and

coupling optics in the interior space of the housing and downstream of the optical isolator for coupling the optical beam to the optical output interface.

13. The tunable laser of claim 12 , further including a cavity length actuator positioned in the interior space along an optical path of the beam from the first optical filter to adjust and lock an optical path length of the external cavity tunable laser.

14. The tunable laser of claim 13 , wherein the cavity length actuator is a block of silicon having a planar surface tilted with respect to the optical axis to prevent the incoming light from the laser from reflecting back into the cavity of the laser.

15. The tunable laser of claim 14 , wherein the coupling optics are positioned in the interior space along the optical path between the external cavity laser and the focusing lens assembly, the coupling optics including a pair of coupling lenses and an isolator.

16. The tunable laser of claim 12 , further comprising a cavity length actuator disposed between the first and second optical filters of the Vernier tuning mechanism along an optical path of the beam from the first optical filter, and further including an anti-reflection coating on its planar surface.

17. The tunable laser of claim 16 , further comprising a photodiode disposed between the second optical filter and the optical output interface.

18. The tunable laser of claim 12 , wherein the external cavity laser further includes a cavity length actuator to adjust an optical pathlength of the external cavity tunable laser.

19. The tunable laser of claim 12 , wherein the optical interface is a ferrule connected to an optical fiber pigtail.