A QCL may include a substrate, and a semiconductor layer adjacent the substrate. The semiconductor layer may define branch active regions, and a stem region coupled to output ends of the branch active regions. Each branch active region may have a number of stages less than 30.

A QCL may include a substrate, and a semiconductor layer adjacent the substrate. The semiconductor layer may define branch active regions, and a stem region coupled to output ends of the branch active regions. Each branch active region may have a number of stages less than 30.

A laser device includes a wavelength-tunable laser including plural wavelength selectors in an optical resonator; a semiconductor optical amplifier that amplifies the laser light input thereto; a light intensity variation detector that detects variation in intensity of the laser light output from the wavelength-tunable laser before the laser light is input to the semiconductor optical amplifier; a wavelength dithering generation unit that generates a resonator mode wavelength dithering to modulate a resonator mode of the resonator; a wavelength dithering feedback controller that performs, on the resonator mode wavelength dithering, feedback control based on the variation in intensity detected by the light intensity variation detector; a light intensity detector that detects an intensity of the laser light output from the semiconductor optical amplifier; and a semiconductor optical amplifier feedback controller that performs feedback control on the semiconductor optical amplifier based on the intensity detected by the light intensity detector.

An optical waveguide structure includes a lower cladding layer positioned on a substrate; an optical guide layer positioned on the lower cladding layer; an upper cladding layer positioned on the optical guide layer; and a heater positioned on the upper cladding layer. The lower cladding layer, the optical guide layer, and the upper cladding layer constitute a mesa structure. The optical guide layer has a lower thermal conductivity than the upper cladding layer. An equation W.sub.wgW.sub.mesa3W.sub.wg is satisfied, wherein W.sub.mesa represents a mesa width of the mesa structure, and W.sub.wg represents a width of the optical guide layer. The optical guide layer occupies one-third or more of the mesa width in a width direction of the mesa structure.

A discrete wavelength tunable laser capable of switching between a plurality of lasing channels of different wavelengths, the tunable laser comprising: a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA); a wavelength demultiplexer (Demux), having a Demux input which receives the output from the SOA, and a plurality of Demux outputs, each Demux output defining a different spatial path for a respective lasing channel; each of the respective lasing channels being within the bandwidth of the SOA; a reflector located within each spatial path for reflecting light of the respective lasing channel; and a lasing suppression mechanism located within each lasing channel; wherein one or more desired lasing channels are selected by application of the lasing suppression mechanism in each spatial path other than the one or more spatial paths corresponding to the one or more desired lasing channels.

Embodiments include apparatuses, methods, and systems including a laser device having a 13 MMI coupler within a semiconductor layer. A front arm is coupled to the MMI coupler and terminated by a front reflector. In addition, a coarse tuning arm is coupled to the MMI coupler and terminated by a first back reflector for coarse wavelength tuning, a fine tuning arm is coupled to the MMI coupler and terminated by a second back reflector for fine wavelength tuning, and a SMSR and power tuning arm is coupled to the MMI coupler and terminated by a third back reflector. A gain region is above the front arm and above the semiconductor layer. Other embodiments may also be described and claimed.

A system for continuously phase tuning an optical signal includes one optical switch coupled to a phase modulator having a first waveguide with a first phase shifter and a second waveguide with a second phase shifter. The optical switch alternately switches between the first and second phase shifters to phase shift the optical signal, respectively. The continuously phase tuning system further includes a loop mirror that alternately receives the phase shifted optical signal from the first and second waveguides in accordance with the switching, via corresponding first and second mirror inputs, respectively, and reflects the phase shifted optical signal back to the same first or second mirror input at which the phase shifted optical signal was received. First and second phase values of the first and second phase shifters are determined such that overall phase change continues to accumulate substantially linearly.

An external cavity laser and a tuning method therefor are provided. The external cavity laser includes a gain chip, and a tunable reflector. The tunable reflector includes a main waveguide, a beam splitter, a first branch waveguide, a first photonic crystal modulator, a second branch waveguide, and a second photonic crystal modulator. The beam splitter is configured to equally split the optical signal transmitted by the main waveguide into a first optical signal and a second optical signal and is configured to transmit the first optical signal to a first branch waveguide and the second optical signal to a second branch waveguide. A first photonic crystal modulator is configured to tune the first optical signal transmitted by the first branch waveguide. A second photonic crystal modulator is configured to tune the second optical signal transmitted by the second branch waveguide.

A wavelength tunable laser device includes a substrate, a plurality of first optical waveguides provided in the substrate, and a plurality of semiconductor elements bonded on a surface of the substrate and on the plurality of first optical waveguides. The semiconductor elements are formed of a III-V group compound semiconductor and have optical gains. Wavelengths with which the optical gains of the plurality of semiconductor elements reach peaks differ from one another.

A method of controlling a wavelength tunable laser device including a substrate and a plurality of semiconductor elements. A plurality of first optical waveguides are provided in the substrate. The plurality of semiconductor elements are formed of a III-V group compound semiconductor, have optical gains, and are optically coupled to the plurality of first optical waveguides of the substrate. Wavelengths with which gains of the plurality of semiconductor elements reach peaks differ from one another. The method includes, selecting a first optical waveguide configured to transmit light from among the plurality of first optical waveguides, and causing light to be emitted from a first semiconductor element that is a semiconductor element optically coupled to the selected first optical waveguide among the plurality of semiconductor elements.