Evaluation of Wavelength Switching in Distributed Bragg Reflector-Laser Diode

We report on the wavelength switching characteristics of a distributed Bragg reflector laser diode (DBR-LD). The device used in this experiment was implemented to simultaneously enable thermal tuning through a micro-heater and plasma tuning via carrier injection into the core layer in the DBR section, all on a single chip. The wavelength switching speed and power consumption of both tuning methods were measured and compared. It was found that the thermal tuning exhibited a switching speed of 0.135 um/μs with a power consumption of 34 mW/nm, while the plasma tuning demonstrated a switching speed of 0.162 nm/ns with a power consumption of 1.85 mW/nm. These results indicate that plasma tuning achieves approximately 1,200 times faster wavelength tuning speed compared to thermal tuning, while consuming only about 5.4% of the power.