Patent ID: 7593436

Claim:
A semiconductor optoelectronic device comprising: a) at least one cavity region having at least one resonant wavelength; b) at least one multilayer interference reflector having an optical power transmittance, a reflectivity stopband, and a reflectivity stopband edge at a wavelength, the multilayer interference reflector having a non-transparent state in which the at least one resonant wavelength of the cavity region is within the reflectivity stopband of the multilayer interference reflector and a transparent state in which the at least one resonant wavelength of the cavity region is out of the reflectivity stopband of the multilayer interference reflector; c) at least one light generating element comprising a gain region, the light generating element configured to generate light when a forward bias is applied to the gain region; and d) at least one modulator region configured to modulate an output intensity of the light by electro-optically tuning the wavelength of the reflectivity stopband edge of the multilayer interference reflector such that the multilayer interference reflector is changed between the non-transparent state and the transparent state by the tuning, wherein the tuning varies the optical power transmittance of the multilayer interference reflector at the at least one resonant wavelength of the cavity region; e) at least three electric contacts configured to apply bias to the modulator region and to the light generating element independently; wherein said multilayer interference reflector further comprises: i) at least one tunable section including a side located opposite from said cavity region; and ii) at least one non-tunable section located on the side of said at least one tunable section opposite from said cavity region; and wherein tuning varies the wavelength of the reflectivity stopband edge of said tunable section of said multilayer interference reflector such that an optical transmittance of said at least one tunable section of said multilayer interference reflector chances to vary a wavelength of emitted laser light.