16-channel digitally tunable external-cavity laser with nanosecond switching time

We present a 16-channel 100-GHz-spacing digitally tunable packet-switching transmitter based on a novel external-cavity laser design. The transmitter can switch within 0.8 ns between its channels at 0-dBm output power and <0.7-dB penalty when switched from just above threshold and within 20 ns and 0.5-dB penalty when switched from below threshold. All 16 channels are within 2.1 GHz of the ITU grid.