Thermal compensation in semiconductor lasers

A method of driving a temperature control mechanism in a semiconductor laser wherein an output of said laser is coupled to a wavelength conversion device comprising a phase matching wavelength that varies with temperature, said method comprising:

• generating a signal representing a temperature of said wavelength conversion device;
• establishing a target laser operating temperature that is a function of said temperature signal;
• and
• driving at least one temperature control mechanism of said semiconductor laser to vary an output lasing wavelength of said semiconductor laser such that it remains within a wavelength conversion bandwidth about said phase matching wavelength of said wavelength conversion device.

A method of driving a temperature control mechanism in a semiconductor laser wherein an output of said laser is coupled to a wavelength conversion device comprising a phase matching wavelength that varies with temperature such that said wavelength conversion device defines its own optical output signal, said method comprising:

• monitoring a wavelength or amplitude of the optical output signal of said wavelength conversion device;
• and
• driving at least one temperature control mechanism of said semiconductor laser to vary an output lasing wavelength of said semiconductor laser such that it remains within a wavelength conversion bandwidth about said phase matching wavelength of said wavelength conversion device wherein:
• said semiconductor laser comprises a laser diode comprising a wavelength selective region and a gain region;
• and
• said temperature control mechanism of said semiconductor laser is driven during modulation of a driving electrode injection current applied to said gain region to reduce wavelength drift that would otherwise characterize operation of said semiconductor laser.

A method of driving a temperature control mechanism in a semiconductor laser, wherein:

• said semiconductor laser comprises a DBR laser diode comprising a wavelength selective region, a phase matching region, and a gain region and is configured such that an output lasing wavelength of said laser is a function of an operating temperature of said wavelength selective region;
• said semiconductor laser further comprises a DBR section temperature control mechanism configured to generate more heat in said wavelength selective region than said phase matching region and generate more heat in said wavelength selective region than said gain region;
• said DBR section temperature control mechanism comprises a heating element structure extending over said wavelength selective region or a driving electrode structure configured to inject current into said wavelength selective region;
• and
• said method comprises driving said DBR section temperature control mechanism such that a temperature of said wavelength selective region is affected to a greater extent than respective temperatures of said phase matching region and said gain region.