High-power ultralow-chirp 10-Gb/s electroabsorption modulator integrated laser with ultrashort photocarrier lifetime

A high-power, ultralow-chirp electroabsorption modulator (EAM) integrated with a distributed-feedback laser diode (EML) having ultrashort lifetime of photogenerated holes in the EAM quantum-well (QW) structure is reported for the first time. A shallow QW structure having a small valence band offset to enhance the sweepout of photogenerated holes was employed as EAM absorption layer. The measured hole lifetimes were 7-11 ps, and the measured frequency chirp (/spl alpha/-parameter) was low or negative at low EAM reverse bias voltages even under high optical output power conditions. Successful 10-Gb/s 80-km normal-dispersion single-mode fiber transmission (chromatic dispersion D=1600 ps/nm) and the record average fiber optical output power (P/sub f/) of +5.3 dBm were achieved at 25/spl deg/C. In addition, semicooled operation of EML at enhanced bit rates has been demonstrated for application in small-form-factor protocol-agnostic optical transceivers. A 10.7-Gb/s 1600-ps/nm transmission was achieved at 45/spl deg/C and P/sub f/=+3.0 dBm.