Monolithic integration of thin film μ-heater array with 4-channel WDM transmitter

We integrated a μ-heater array with a multi-wavelength laser array for accurate control of the channel spacing. A μ-heater array was formed on a 4-channel laser array with asymmetric sampled gratings. The lasers showed threshold current of 9-13 mA and slope efficiency of around 0.21 W/A. High side mode suppression ratio over 44 dB was observed as well. With the μ-heaters, all the laser wavelengths were precisely controlled simultaneously. The laser wavelength was red shifted with the μ-heater and the tuning efficiency was 3.3 nm/W. However, thermal crosstalk between neighboring channels was observed and it was measured to be 1.1 nm/W.