Low-noise LD module with an optical isolator using a highly bi-substituted garnet film

We have developed a new type of laser diode (LD) module in the 1.3 ?m wavelength range coupled to a single-mode fibre with an optical isolator. The isolator comprises a highly Bi-substituted garnet film grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) as a Faraday rotator. Since the garnet film is used also as a window of the hermetic seal of the LD, the reflection from the focusing lens used for fibre coupling is not allowed to return to the LD by the optical isolator. As a result, the reflection noise of the LD is prefectly suppressed. We have achieved a low-noise and compact LD module by using this construction.