Coupled quantum well tunable laser

The present invention is the use of coupled quantum wells in the active region of a semiconductor laser to modulate the frequency and amplitude of the light output of the laser. In a particular embodiment of the present invention the coupled quantum wells are contained in a graded index of refraction semiconductor double heterostructure laser. The active region of this tunable laser consists of two quantum wells having a width of approximately 50 Angstroms or less which are separated by a barrier layer having a width of approximately 20 Angstroms or less. The quantum well material is intrinsic GaAs and the barrier layer is AlxGa1-xAs wherein x=0.23. The active region is surrounded by the double heterostructure in which one side is doped p-type and the second side is doped n-type. The resulting laser is a p-i-n type structure. A reverse bias with respect to the flat band voltage of the p-i-n structure is applied across the p-i-n structure which modulates both the frequency and the intensity of the laser output. The tunable laser is pumped with a variety of conventional means, including both electrical and optical pumping. The modulation of the wavelength is approximately linear over a 1.5 volt operating range. A tunable laser, such as the present invention, having an output wavelength modulated by an electric field is useful in the field of optical communications and computing.