US Patent 7672348 Semiconductor laser and method of manufacture

Disclosed is a laser (10) comprising a lasing cavity with a lasing medium and primary optical feedback means in the form of a facet (17) at either end of the cavity, the laser cavity defining a longitudinally extending optical path; and secondary optical feedback means formed by a plurality of refractive index perturbations (16, 22) in the laser cavity, each perturbation defining two interfaces (20, 21); characterized in that, for at least one perturbation, only one of the two interfaces contributes to optical feedback along the optical path. The present invention relaxes the lithographic tolerances for making single longitudinal mode devices and improves performance characteristics.