An inhomogeneously biased distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode (LD) with two electrodes switched its polarization mode by 3 mA change of the bias current, maintaining single longitudinal mode oscillation. In the active layer of the LD, 13 nm thick and 0.6&percent; tensile-strained InGaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) equalized the transverse electric and the transverse magnetic modal optical gain at 1.55 &mgr;m. With various grating pitches on the same MQW active layer, polarization switching DFB LDs were realized in the wavelength range as wide as 18 nm. The linewidth characteristics during the polarization switching were confirmed to be narrow due to the small switching current. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.