InterScience has developed a digitally tunable diode laser
that has the capability to emit one or more wavelengths in any desired order
and/or simultaneous selection of more than one wavelength. Unlike conventional
external cavity tunable diode lasers that depend on mechanical means to scan the
laser's wavelength range sequentially from one end to the other, the DTDL
employs a micromirror array to switch among any wavelengths within the laser's
emission spectrum, in any sequence in microseconds..The device has immediate
applications in optical and infrared laser spectroscopy for chemical sensing,
pollution control and biomedical applications, as well as wavelength division
multiplexing (WDM) for optical communications.
Packaging concept of
digitally tunable diode laser transmitter for DWDM applications