Multiwavelength mode-locked InGaAsP laser operating at 12 ch/spl times/2 GHz and 16 ch/spl times/10 GHz

In this letter, we report on the development and characterization of an InGaAsP semiconductor optical amplifier-(SOA) based ring cavity laser that emits up to 16 wavelengths in the 1550-nm region. The laser is loss modulation mode locked at up to 10 GHz with temporal pulses of /spl sim/25 ps. Spectral control of the emission is accomplished by an intracavity 4-f spectral pulse shaper with a programmable liquid crystal spatial light modulator (SLM) in the Fourier plane. Voltage control of the transmissibility of the pixels of the SLM defines the wavelength channels and allows flattening of channels to produce a uniform intensity of channel outputs.