Patent ID: 8923348

Claim:
A small, packaged tunable laser comprising: a rectangular housing having a volume of less than 0.6 cubic centimeters, with six planar exterior walls including a bottom, a top, opposing first and second ends, and opposing sidewalls, the exterior walls forming a hermetically sealed interior space that includes a major axis that extends through the first and second ends; an electrical input interface positioned on the exterior of the housing; an optical output interface positioned on the exterior of the housing and aligned with the major axis, the optical output interface configured to transmit a continuous wave optical beam; a tunable semiconductor laser positioned in the interior space and operable to emit a laser beam having a selectable wavelength; a beam splitter positioned in the interior space of the housing and in the path of the laser beam for producing a first beam, and a second beam; an optical isolator positioned in the interior space of the housing and in the path of the first beam downstream of the beam splitter to prevent the incoming light from the beam splitter from reflecting back through the beam splitter and into the cavity of the laser; a photodiode in the interior space of the housing and disposed in the path of the second beam for determining the emitted intensity of the laser beam; and coupling optics in the interior space of the housing and downstream of the optical isolator for coupling the optical beam to the optical output interface.