Transverse-mode dynamics in directly modulated vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with optical feedback

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with optical feedback are known to exhibit different transverse-mode regimes depending on the injection current. Close to threshold a VCSEL operates on the fundamental transverse mode, while for larger injection the dynamics is often multimode, with the optical feedback inducing either in-phase or anti-phase transverse mode oscillations. In this paper, we study numerically the influence of current modulation on these different feedback-induced transverse-mode regimes. The modulation amplitude and period are taken as control parameters. We find that the in-phase and anti-phase regimes are robust under weak modulation. As the modulation amplitude increases, there is a transition to a dynamics governed by the current modulation, where the total output power follows the injection current and there is either single-mode or in-phase multimode behavior. However, the effect of the current modulation depends on the modulation period. Under fast modulation, the laser cannot follow the modulation and the optical-feedback-induced effects are dominant. On the contrary, under slow modulation there is a superposition of modulation and feedback effects, with the total output following the modulated current and an underlying transverse-mode behavior mainly determined by the optical feedback. A resonant behavior was observed for modulation periods close to the internal oscillation period. In this case, current modulation induces pulsing output intensity with single-mode or in-phase multimode behavior.     

40 Gbit/s electroabsorption modulated distributed feedback laser

A 40 Gbit/s multi-quantum well (MQW) electroabsorption modulator (EAM) with a lumped electrode monolithically integrated with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser is demonstrated. Superior characteristics are exhibited for the device, such as low threshold current of 18 mA, over 40 dB side-mode suppression ratio at 1 550 nm and more than 30 dB extinction ratio when coupled into a single-mode fiber. By adopting deep ridge waveguide and planar electrode structures combined with buried benzocyclobutene (BCB), the capacitance of the EAM is reduced down to 0.18 pF and over 33 GHz modulation bandwidth at a small signal has been demonstrated. Negative chirp operation is realized when the bias voltage is beyond 1.6 V.     

Fabry-Perot electroabsorption modulators for high-speed free-space optical communication

Retroreflective modulators are key components in free-space optical communication systems between mobile platforms and users. Wide-aperture surface-normal electroabsorption modulators based on GaAs-AlGaAs quantum wells embedded in an asymmetric Fabry-Perot cavity are designed and fabricated with a high yield process on 10-cm wafers. It is shown that the modulator yield and its speed are improved significantly by a pixellated approach in which monolithic modulators are divided into 4-64 pixels. The fabricated 1.5/spl times/1.5 cm/sup 2/ devices exhibit contrast ratios of 8 dB at a driving voltage of 8 V and a modulation frequency higher than 10 MHz, which provides low noise and fast data transmission for long distance free-space optical communication.     

Mode partition in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

The authors point out that random noise processes induce mode partition fluctuations in semiconductor lasers. Mode partition depends on laser parameters and modulation current. However, external optical feedback can also increase mode partition noise. Here, a numerical solution of multimode noise-driven rate equations with time-delayed terms is utilized to investigate mode partition in semiconductor lasers with reflecting feedback. Photon statistics of the main and side modes in semiconductor lasers under both CW operation and dynamic operation are considered. Probability-density curves for the main and side modes are shown. The feedback-induced change of photon statistics of the main and side modes is clearly seen. Numerical results indicate that, if the laser used is exposed to reflections, a more stringent mode discrimination requirement for suppressing the buildup of laser-cavity longitudinal side modes may result. If mode discrimination is insufficient for avoiding the excitation of side modes, the feedback-induced power penalty depends on the fiber dispersion     

Investigation of polarization bistability in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers subjected to optical feedback

Polarization bistability in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) subject to optical feedback has been studied both experimentally and theoretically. Optical feedback is shown to reduce the width of the bistability hysteresis loop and, hence, suppress the bistability. It is also demonstrated experimentally that polarization-selective optical feedback can be utilized to eliminate VCSEL polarization switching without inducing instabilities in the device.     

Spectral characteristics of semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Optical feedback-induced changes in the output spectra of several GaAlAs lasers operating at 0.83 μm are described. The feedback radiation obtained from a mirror 60 cm away from the laser is controlled in intensity and phase. Spectral line narrowing or broadening is observed in each laser depending on the feedback conditions. Minimum linewidths observed with feedback are less than 100 kHz. Improved wavelength stability is also obtained with optical feedback resulting in 15 dB less phase noise. An analytical model for the three-mirror cavity is developed to explain these observations.     

Wide temperature operation of 40-Gb/s 1550-nm electroabsorption modulated lasers

Electroabsorption modulated lasers (EMLs) exploiting the quantum confined Stark effect need thermoelectric coolers to achieve stable output power levels and dynamic extinction ratios. Temperature-independent operation is reported between 20/spl deg/C and 70/spl deg/C for InGaAlAs-InP-based monolithically integrated 1550-nm EMLs exploiting a shared active area at 40 Gb/s by actively controlling the electroabsorption modulator bias voltage. Dynamic extinction ratios of at least 8 dB and fiber-coupled mean modulated optical power of at least 0.85 mW are obtained over the mentioned temperature range.     

Subharmonic modulation distortions in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Experimental studies of subharmonic modulation distortions of semiconductor lasers with optical feedback are described. These distortions were found to exhibit almost resonant frequency characteristics and threshold behaviour against the modulation frequency and its depth, respectively. It was inferred that they would be excited by parametric interactions caused by some laser diode parameter changes due to modulation.     

Noise characteristics in line-narrowed semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Effects of optical-feedback-induced line-narrowing on low-frequency amplitude and phase noise of semiconductor lasers are reported. Free-running laser noise is compared with that of lasers operating with external mirror feedback. While less than 1 dB difference in the amplitude noise with and without feedback is observed, line-narrowed lasers exhibit 15?20 dB reduction in low-frequency wavelength instability, or phase noise.     

A novel way to improve the dispersion-limited transmission distance of electroabsorption modulated lasers

We propose and demonstrate a way to improve the dispersion-limited reach of electroabsorption modulated lasers (EMLs). We generate continuous-phase frequency-shift keying/amplitude-shift keying (ASK) signals with the EML by applying a small current modulation to the laser diode (LD) on top of electroabsorption-modulated ASK signals. The amount of frequency deviation induced by the current modulation is adjusted to have the EML output signals experience /spl pi/ phase shift at every space. The experimental demonstration shows that with the proposed scheme we can increase the dispersion-limited transmission distance of the EML-based transmitter by 25%-75%, and it can be further improved by employing an LD with flat frequency-modulation response.     

Distributed feedback InGaAsP/InP lasers with window region emitting at 1.5 µm range

Distributed feedback (DFB) InGaAsP/InP lasers with a window region formed at an end of the corrugated DFB region were made in order to overcome the problems inherent in the previous structures of DFB lasers with cleaved, sawed, etched, or AR-coated facets, or with an unexcited corrugation region. The window structure DFB lasers showed linear current versus output (I-L) curves, in contrast to those with a hysteresis or a kink appearing in a DFB laser with an unexcited region. Suppression of Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonances due to the two facets were sufficient enough to keep a single longitudinal mode property by DFB up to high excitation level. CW operation up to 65°C was achieved at the 1.5 μm wavelength range. Axial modes concerning the corrugated resonator were measured at about the threshold current. A stop band of a DFB laser was clearly observed with two dominant modes and much smaller submodes, which almost agreed with the axial modes predicted from a basic DFB theory.     

Analysis of DFB semiconductor lasers with external optical feedback

A theoretical analysis of the sensitivity of DFB semiconductor lasers to external optical feedback is presented. Numerical simulations allow the authors to determine the optimum facet reflectivity, for a given κL value, to minimise the sensitivity to external optical feedback     

Chaos in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback: theory andexperiment

The authors present a detailed theoretical and experimental investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of a semiconductor laser with optical feedback. The results show that the coherence collapsed state is a chaotic attractor and that chaos is reached for increasing feedback level through a quasi-periodic route interrupted by frequency locking. Furthermore, the coexistence of two attractors, associated with the same external cavity mode, but having different relaxation oscillation frequencies, is demonstrated and explained     

蒸气激光器的耐高温光胶石英窗口

试制了蒸气激光器的耐高温光胶石英窗口,光学性能与光胶坚固性和常温光胶石英窗口相同。     

Numerical simulation of optical feedback on a quantum dot lasers

We use multi-population rate equations model to study feedback oscillations in the quantum dot laser. This model takes into account all peculiar characteristics in the quantum dots such as inhomogeneous broadening of the gain spectrum, the presence of the excited states on the quantum dot and the non-confined states due to the presence of wetting layer and the barrier. The contribution of quantum dot groups, which cannot follow by other models, is simulated. The results obtained from this model show the feedback oscillations, the periodic oscillations which evolves to chaos at higher injection current of higher feedback levels. The frequency fluctuation is attributed mainly to wetting layer with a considerable contribution from excited states. The simulation shows that is must be not using simple rate equation models to express quantum dots working at excited state transition.     

Light-current characteristics of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with external optical feedback

The influence of external optical feedback (OFB) on the light-current characteristics of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) was investigated theoretically and experimentally. By calculating the OFB sensitivity parameter, the OFB sensibility of the VCSELs was compared with the edge emitting lasers. Based on the compound cavity theory, the light-current characteristic parameters of the VCSELs with external OFB, such as the threshold current and the slope efficiency, were calculated. The experimental results indicated that the threshold current of the VCSELs with different DBR reflectivities decreased to different degrees, accompanied with a decrease of slope efficiency when under 10% feedback ratio of the external OFB, which is in good agreement with the theoretical calculation.     

Spectral characteristics of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with external optical feedback

The measurement of the effects of external optical feedback on the spectra of VCSELs (vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers) is reported. It is surprising that VCSELs have a sensitivity to optical feedback comparable to that of conventional edge-emitting lasers such as DFBs despite their significantly different structures. This is because the extremely short cavity length of VCSELs negates the effects of their highly reflective output mirrors. As in edge-emitting lasers, VCSELs exhibit well-defined regimes of feedback effects in their spectra. Since optical isolators cannot be easily applied to VCSELs due to their array structure, these lasers may be most useful in applications which are not sensitive to the spectral qualities of the light source.<>     

外部光反馈作用下垂直腔面发射激光器的电光特性

研究了外部光反馈对垂直腔面发射激光器（VCSELs）电光特性的影响。通过计算光反馈参数对比了VCSELs与边发射激光器（EELs）的光反馈灵敏性。基于复合腔理论计算了存在外部光反馈时垂直腔面发射激光器的阈值电流及斜率效率等电光特性参数。实验结果表明,分布布拉格反射镜（DBR）反射率不同的VCSEL,在反馈率为10%的外部光反馈作用下,其阈值电流及斜率效率发生了不同程度的变化。实验结果有效验证了理论计算的结论。     

Suppression of external cavity modes in DFB lasers with a highendurance against optical feedback

This paper clarifies that the external cavity modes deform optical output response in the DFB lasers by enhancing the relaxation oscillation under NRZ modulation. It is shown that a DFB laser with an asymmetric structure in reflectivity of facets and in position of a λ/4 phase shift can suppress the influence of the external cavity modes