Patent 9318868 was granted and assigned to Skorpios Technologies on April, 2016 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A tunable laser includes a substrate comprising a silicon material, a gain medium coupled to the substrate, wherein the gain medium includes a compound semiconductor material, and a waveguide disposed in the substrate and optically coupled to the gain medium. The tunable laser also includes a first wavelength selective element characterized by a first reflectance spectrum and disposed in the substrate and a carrier-based phase modulator optically coupled to the first wavelength selective element. The tunable laser further includes a second wavelength selective element characterized by a second reflectance spectrum and disposed in the substrate, an optical coupler disposed in the substrate and optically coupled to the first wavelength selective element, the second wavelength selective element, and the waveguide, and an output mirror.