This article is supposed to facilitate laser diode characterization. Measuring the performance of a laser diode is a multi-faceted problem, often mixing theoretical and practical issues. This paper offers insights that may be helpful in troubleshooting the measurement system and contains references that present useful theoretical tools.

We designed a series of AlInGaAs MQW laser layerstacks in order to investigate the influence of various design parameters (such as amount of quantum wells, doping strategy, SCH profile) on the laser performance. The stacks are experimentally evaluated by fabricating and testing Broad Area Lasers. Their design is optimized for automated measurement and rapid prototyping allowing for collecting large amounts of data. This enables statistically significant comparison between various Al-based layerstacks and with an InGaAsP reference layerstack (currently used in Smart Photonics generic platform), making the comparisons more reliable than in the existing literature.

Hereby, we present a new design for an integrated wavelength meter. The device works by coupling an unknown monochromatic light source to four microring resonators of different free spectral range containing a phase modulator. The output of each ring is coupled to a separate photodiode (PD). The setup relies on modulating the spectral position of ring resonances while monitoring transmitted power with PDs. Thanks to data acquired during calibration, is possible to relate such output powers to a unique wavelength. While state-of the art designs allow for either high precision or broad range, our system does not require any tradeoff between those two characteristic, achieving up to 8 pm precision (for a ring Q factor equal to 2*10^5) and 100 nm of wavelength range. We will discuss how losses influence the measurement speed and the resolution of the device. The structure, although platform independent, will be realized in InP.