Amplified feedback DFB laser for 40Â Gb/s all-optical clock recovery

A monolithic integrated amplified feedback semiconductor laser (AFL) was fabricated based on quantum well intermixing (QWI) technique. The AFL works as a self-pulsation laser. It consists of a gain-coupled multiple quantum well distribute feedback (DFB) laser diode (LD) section, a passive phase section and an amplified feedback section. The free-running repetition frequency of the AFL can be tuned from 32 GHz to 51 GHz via controlling the feedback strength. All-optical 40 Gb/s clock recovery was experimentally demonstrated using the AFL with a low timing jitter.