A Performance Comparison Between Quantum Dash and Quantum Well Fabry-Pérot Lasers

We directly compare the performance of 1.55 $\mu \text{m}$ Fabry-Perot lasers using quantum well (QW) and quantum dash gain regions. Other than the gain medium the designs were identical, grown in the same growth system, and processed at the same time. The static laser performance (light-current and spectral) were similar for both gain materials but the intensity and phase noise characteristics of the dash based lasers were significantly better. This was attributed to the self mode-locking of the dash lasers that was not observed for the QW lasers. This reduction in noise allowed individual lasing lines from the Fabry-Perot dash lasers to be used for data transmission using high order modulation schemes, with quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) demonstrated at a symbol rate of 32GBaud. This performance could not be achieved using the equivalent QW based laser.