Wavelength-stable burst-mode laser for next-generation PONs

We developed a novel wavelength-stable burst-mode (BM) laser based on a multi-electrode distributed-feedback (DFB) laser. Our main use-case for the multi-electrode laser (MEL) is a time- and wavelength-division multiplexed passive optical network (TWDM-PON) (NG-PON2), but the wavelength-stable BM laser might also enable future coherent TDM-PON systems and high-rate PON systems using optical-filter-based chromatic dispersion compensation. Samples of the proposed laser are realized and characterized. The performance of the MEL-based BM transmitter is evaluated in several experiments in a directly modulated (at 10 Gbps) and externally modulated (at 25 Gbps) configuration. It is shown that the proposed laser is suitable for TWDM-PONs using a 100 GHz wavelength grid.