Strategy of full-C-band fast wavelength switching and aging mitigation at tunable DFB laser array with current/temperature cooperative control

Abstract

We proposed a current/temperature cooperative control to solve the problem of laser aging in the conventional fast wavelength switching method when injecting a larger current at the tunable distributed feedback (DFB) laser array (TLA). Previously, we demonstrated a 400-GHz-wide uni-directional switching at a single DFB laser in the TLA with the cooperative control, which switched fastly and retarded laser aging. For large-scale optical communication systems, we have improved the cooperative control method and expanded its application scenarios. In this paper, we not only proposed and achieved bi-directional wavelength switching with cooperative control at a single DFB laser but also realized bi-directional wavelength switching with cooperative control covering full-C-band at two DFB lasers of the TLA. We demonstrated that the switching time is less than 200 ms and estimated that the TLA’s lifetime is improved by more than 40 times.

Demonstration of THz frequency hopping in the 300 GHz band based on UTC-PD and tunable DFB laser array

“…To mitigate this issue, newer current control methods have been introduced. 30) These methods focus on quickly altering the temperature of the active layer by changing the injection current. This adjustment allows the temperature of the active layer to change within just one millisecond, significantly improving the speed of wavelength switching.…”