Patent ID: 7962045

Claim:
An optical transmitter comprising: a directly modulated laser tunable across a first frequency range; an optical spectrum reshaper positioned to receive an output of the directly modulated laser and having a plurality of periodic passbands, the plurality of passbands located within the first frequency range; and a controller coupled to the tunable directly modulated laser and programmed to cause the directly modulated laser to emit first adiabatically chirped pulses having a peak frequency located within a first of the plurality of passbands and to cause the directly modulated laser to emit second adiabatically chirped pulses having a peak frequency located within a second of the plurality of passbands different from the first of the plurality of passbands; wherein the directly modulated laser includes a gain section coupled to first and second sampled gratings by an optical power splitter and wherein the sampled gratings are formed in a semiconductor material and are reverse-biased.