Patent ID: 8401399

Claim:
A monolithically integrated optical transmitter die comprising: at least one monocrystalline substrate; a tunable laser resonator monolithically integrated with the substrate, said tunable laser resonator comprising an output reflector and a tuning section, said tunable laser resonator configured to emit optical radiation from the output reflector along an optical axis, such that the wavelength of the emitted optical radiation is tunable over a wide wavelength range from between about 15 nm to about 100 nm, wherein the wide wavelength range is represented by Δλ/λ and is configured to be greater than a ratio Δn/n, wherein λ represents the wavelength of the optical radiation, Δλ represents the change in the wavelength of the optical radiation, n represents the refractive index of the tuning section, and Δn represents the change in the refractive index of the tuning section; a first optical vector modulator monolithically integrated with the substrate, said first optical modulator comprising a first optical splitter optically connected to the laser resonator, a plurality of arms comprising at least two electrodes and a first output coupler; a second optical vector modulator monolithically integrated with the substrate, said second optical modulator comprising a second optical splitter optically connected to the laser resonator, a plurality of arms comprising at least two electrodes and a second output coupler; a polarization rotator monolithically integrated with the substrate, said polarization rotator arranged at an angle between about 20 deg and 160 deg or between about −20 deg and −160 deg with respect to the optical axis; and an optical combiner monolithically integrated with the substrate and configured to combine optical signals output from the first and second output couplers, wherein the first or the second optical splitters are disposed at a distance of approximately less than 750 μm from the output reflector of the laser resonator as measured along the optical axis, wherein the size of the monolithically integrated optical transmitter die is less than approximately 3 square mm.