Laser facet phase control

A tunable external cavity laser apparatus, comprising:

• a platform;
• a gain medium operatively coupled to the platform, said cain medium having a first reflective facet and a second substantially non-reflective facet defining a facet laser cavity in which a first portion of light emitted by the gain medium in response to an electrical input is internally reflected to produce a first lasing condition having a first reflection phase;
• a reflective element positioned opposite the second facet of said gain medium, said first facet and reflective element defining an external laser cavity in which a second portion of light is internally reflected to produce a second lasing condition having a second reflection phase;
• a temperature-controllable element, thermally coupled to the gain medium;
• and
• a temperature controller, operatively coupled to the temperature-controllable element, to adjust the first reflection phase by controlling the temperature of the gain medium to enable a phase angle corresponding to the difference between the first and second reflection phases to be adjusted.

A method for operating a laser, comprising:

• providing an external cavity laser including:
• producing a first lasing condition in a gain medium having a first reflective facet and a second substantially non-reflective facet defining a facet laser cavity by internally reflecting a first portion of light emitted from the gain medium, said first lasing condition having a laser facet reflection phase;
• producing a second lasing by reflecting a second portion of light emitted by the gain medium in an external laser cavity defined by a reflective element positioned opposite the second facet of said gain medium and said first facet, said second lasing condition having an external laser cavity reflection phase;
• and
• controlling the laser facet reflection phase relative to the external laser cavity reflection phase to control a characteristic of an optical output produced by the laser apparatus as a function of the first and second lasing conditions, said characteristic comprising at least one member from the group of:
• laser output power, side-mode suppression, stabilizing laser operations relative to external perturbations, and tuning the laser.