Patent ID: 8213804

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: an integrated structure having front and rear facets optically connected via a waveguide passing therethrough, the integrated structure further including: a gain section to provide a gain operation on optical energy in an external cavity laser, the gain operation controlled by a first electrical signal, wherein the gain section is part of the external cavity laser and is coupled to a first independent electrode and a common electrode; a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) section disposed adjacent to the gain section to amplify the optical energy emitted by the external cavity laser responsive to a second electrical signal, the SOA section coupled to a second independent electrode and the common electrode; a trench mirror having a width and a depth within a substrate of the integrated structure disposed between the gain section and the SOA section, wherein the gain section and the SOA section are formed in an active layer having quantum well layers and barrier layers without integration of passive components; and a bias circuit coupled to provide an independent bias current to each of the first and second independent electrodes, wherein the SOA section is to shutter substantially all of the optical energy emitted by the external cavity laser during tuning from a first channel to a second channel when the bias circuit provides a negative bias to the second independent electrode.