Measurement of mode partition in DFB lasers

Some DFB (distributed feedback) laser diodes have a satellite mode beside a main DFB mode even if FP modes are suppressed. In this paper, the mode partition noise is presented for several DFB lasers operating in multilongitudinal modes. The results show that under modulation at 140 Mbit/s, the mode partition coefficient k²of multimode DFB lasers is very small and at most 0.02 while that of FP lasers biased at the threshold level is 0.03 to 0.12. The numerical evaluation of the mode partition effect in two-mode DFB lasers suggests that a 20- dB suppression of the satellite mode power is enough to achieve a repeater spacing of over 100 km in the 280 Mbit/s fiber-optic transmission system with less than 0.1-dB power penalty.     

Partition noise in semiconductor lasers under CW and pulsed operation

A numerical model which simulates the mode partition noise in semiconductor lasers under CW as well as pulsed operation is presented. The noise levels in the individual modes under CW operation are in agreement with those predicted by an analytic small-signal model. Under simulated pulse modulation with pulse repetition frequencies of 633 MHz and 2.2 GHz, the probability density functions for the relative photon numbers in the individual modes are found. The data allow for an evaluation of the mode partition parameterk. For the central modes,kfactors are in the range of 0.31-0.42, depending on bias level and modulation frequency. Weaker side modes carrying less than 5 percent of the total output havekfactors smaller than 0.16.     

Transfer-matrix analysis of the intensity and phase noise ofmultisection DFB semiconductor lasers

A general small-signal model for the intensity and phase noise spectra of multisection distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor lasers is developed by using the transfer-matrix approach based on the Green's function method. The spontaneous emission enhancements due to nonuniform longitudinal field distribution and the effective amplitude-phase coupling effect (the effective linewidth enhancement factor) are taken into account in the formulation. Analytical expressions for the spectra of the relative intensity noise and the FM noise of the main mode in the multimode operation are presented by using the transfer functions in a flow-graph representation. Facet reflectivities and external optical feedback are included in the model. The effects of the grating coupling coefficient, the random grating-phase at the facets, the phase-shift position, the external optical feedback, and the side mode on the noise spectra are analyzed systematically for a λ/4-shifted DFB laser     

Mode-switching in semiconductor lasers

In this paper, we experimentally analyze the modal dynamics of quantum-well semiconductor lasers. Modal switching is the dominant feature for semiconductor lasers that exhibit two or several active longitudinal modes in their time-averaged optical spectrum. In quantum-well lasers, these dynamics involve a periodic switching among several longitudinal modes, which follows a well-determined sequence from the bluest to the reddest mode in the optical spectrum. This feature is radically different from the well-known noise-driven mode-hopping occurring in bulk lasers which involves only two main modes. We analyze the differences in modal dynamics for these two kinds of laser by comparing the modal switching statistics and by studying the effects of noise and modulation in the pumping current.     

Dependence of the linewidth of a semiconductor laser on the modedistribution

A theory and measurements that show the dependence of the frequency noise spectrum and, therefore, of the semiconductor laser linewidth on the mode distribution are presented. The theory is based on rate equations where the linewidth is strongly influenced by the gain saturation coefficients (nonlinear gain). Analytical results are restricted to two modes. Measurements show that the linewidth change of the main mode depends on the wavelength side of the side mode (related to the wavelength mode of the main mode) and the effect decreases with increasing mode separation. Furthermore, the theoretical and measured frequency noise spectra of a three-mode laser are depicted, showing a characteristic resonance peak for certain mode distributions. This property of the frequency noise spectrum is also described by the theory     

Statistical measurements as a way to study mode partition in injection lasers

We have demonstrated a statistical measurement technique to characterize the mode partition in injection lasers. In the steady state small nonlasing side modes have distributions similar to that of a narrow-band Gaussian noise. There is a certain probability that they carry a significant portion of the total output. For example, if a side mode of a TJS (AlGa)As laser contains on the average 1.6 percent of the total output power, there is a probability of 10^-6, that it carries 30 percent of the total output. Distributions of main modes of a multimode laser can be matched by beta distributions with properly selected parameters. In addition to dc conditions, this technique has also been used to study the transient behavior of injection lasers. The dominant mode has been shown to start from a noise distribution.     

半导体激光器的电噪声

通过测量激光器的电噪声,可以用来在线监测器件的诸多特性,如阈值电流的大小,是否有模式跳变发生,以及谱线宽窄等.另外,根据电噪声的大小,还可以对器件的质量和可靠性作出评价,具有快速、方便、无损等优点.文章概述了半导体激光器的电噪声,对其主要应用进行了综合和讨论,概括性评述了该领域目前的研究进展.     

Effect of carrier lifetime on mode partition noise in multimodesemiconductor lasers

The dependence of mode partition noise (MPN), and its association with the eye diagram and power penalty, on carrier lifetime in 1.3 μm InGaAsP multimode semiconductor lasers for a 1.2 Gbit/s lightwave transmission system was investigated. It was found that lasers with shorter carrier lifetimes showed less MPN, and hence, a better eye opening and a lower power penalty, than the lasers with longer carrier lifetimes. The significant dependence of MPN, eye opening, and power penalty on carrier lifetime in multimode semiconductor lasers suggests that the carrier lifetime of the laser, which depends on the laser design, can be used as an important parameter for characterizing the performance of high-speed lightwave transmission systems     

Suppressing mode hopping in semiconductor lasers by orthogonal-polarization optical feedback

Mode hopping is characterized by a stochastic exchange of power between two longitudinal modes of a laser, inducing a high-level intensity noise in the laser's output. This investigation proposes an orthogonal-polarization optical feedback (OPF) method to suppress mode hopping in semiconductor lasers. Experimental results indicated that, under some operating conditions, mode hopping could be completely suppressed by an OPF of around -29.3 dB in feedback ratio while the laser was conducted into a single-mode state. Moreover, the mode-hopping region was significantly reduced, enabling the laser's wavelength to be tuned continuously over a wider range. These results can be used to greatly improve the performance of semiconductor lasers.     

Criterion of external feedback sensitivity in index-coupled andgain-coupled DFB semiconductor lasers to be free from excess intensitynoise

Sensitivities of index-coupled as well as gain-coupled DFB semiconductor lasers to external optical feedback are theoretically investigated in this work. The conditions of getting free operation from excess intensity noise in these two types of DFB lasers are obtained. It is found that the sensitivity of external feedback for these two types of DFB laser depends significantly on the structure such as the internal grating, the facet reflection, and the phase relation between the grating and the facet. The condition of making a DFB laser less sensitive to external optical feedback is to adjust the lasing wavelength to the Bragg wavelength in both index-coupled and gain-coupled structures. A phase-adjusting mechanism such as the λ/4 shift region in the index-coupled structure is effective to avoid the external feedback     

Analysis of the intensity noise of nearly single-longitudinal-mode semiconductor lasers

Quasi-linearized multimode quantum-mechanical rate equations with shot-noise sources for nearly single-longitudinal-mode semiconductor lasers are solved analytically by means of a flow graph technique. It is found that mode partition noise is the major intensity noise at low frequencies. At the resonance frequency, the "single-mode" noise dominates. Expressions for the relative intensity noise at low frequencies and the resonance frequency are derived. The correlation of the main mode and a side mode is negative at low frequencies and positive at the resonance frequency. The analysis also shows that intensity fluctuations of a side mode have a time constant of a few nanoseconds and a weak resonance peak caused by the fluctuations of the carrier number.     

Laser mode partition noise in lightwave systems using dispersiveoptical fiber

Semiconductor laser mode partition noise (LMPN) can impair analog optical systems, but this phenomenon has not previously been well-characterized. Theoretical expressions for the noise spectra that result when light from a nearly single-mode or strongly multimode semiconductor laser is passed through a length of dispersive optical fiber are presented and have been tested experimentally. A widely used model is found to greatly overestimate the partition noise of a DFB laser; a model for the strongly multimode case is found to match experimental results for a multimode laser. It is observed that partition noise can be significant even for multimode lasers operating near the fiber dispersion minimum     

Characterizing relative intensity noise in InGaAsP-InP triangular ring lasers

This paper discusses relative intensity noise (RIN) characterization of triangular ring lasers, fabricated through a self-aligned dry etching process in InGaAsP-InP. Unusual low frequency noise enhancement was observed in each of the output beams, that is strongly dependent on the mirror backscattering strength. We explain the physical origin of the unusual RIN results as a partition noise effect between the two output beams of the ring laser, which can be best interpreted as superposition of two incoherent spatially bidirectional modes, generated by incoherent spontaneous emission photons traveling in clockwise and counterclockwise directions. This effect is unique to the ring laser geometry, and reported here for the first time. General noise predictions of our analysis are consistent with experimental measurements. This partition noise enhancement is expected to be present in the entire class of bidirectional semiconductor ring lasers, affecting the noise performance of not only the triangular ring laser, but also circular and square geometries, and possibly microdisk type lasers, in integrated photonic circuit applications.     

Spectral density of intensity fluctuations in semiconductor lasermodes under pseudorandom pulsed operation

The spectral density of intensity noise in individual modes as well as in the total output radiation of a semiconductor laser under pseudorandom pulsed operation was simulated for the first time. The influence of modulation and laser parameters on its noise properties is studied. The results presented are in agreement with those obtained by experiments, confirming that the new method investigated here is suitable for the analysis of intensity noise in pulsed-modulated nearly-single-mode semiconductor lasers     

Realization and wafer test of InGaAsP/InP DFB laser/monitor OEICs

Wafer-testable distributed feedback (DFB) lasers and monolithically integrated monitor diodes are realized to replace the time consuming and expensive single-chip test procedure in semiconductor laser fabrication process. Laser-end facets and integrated monitor diodes are defined on 1.5-μm InGaAsP/InP multiple quantum well (MQW) DFB laser wafers by reactive ion beam etching (RIBE). Using terminal electrical noise (TEN) measurement, the lasers are characterized directly on the wafer with respect to threshold current and single mode operation. Threshold currents down to 10 mA have been achieved for the integrated devices     

Single-mode characteristics of short coupled-cavity semiconductor lasers

The characteristics of single-longitudinal-mode selection in short coupled-cavity (SCC) semiconductor lasers with a plane reflector are analyzed theoretically. It is found that the power ratio of the main mode to other side modes can be increased significantly by reducing the reflectivity of a laser diode facet adjacent to the external mirror. Based on the theoretical results, a new type of SCC laser is developed; single-longitudinal-mode output with 35-40 dB side mode suppression ratio is obtained under CW and 150 MHz modulation conditions.     

Effective nonlinear gain in semiconductor lasers

An effective nonlinear gain is introduced for semiconductor lasers by taking into account the effect of laser structure and the associated distribution of the mode intensity along the cavity length. It should be used in the analysis of laser dynamics and noise in place of the material nonlinear gain parameter. A general expression for the effective nonlinear gain is given by using the Green's function method. The results obtained for Fabry-Perot and distributed feedback lasers show that the effective nonlinear gain could be considerably enhanced. The exact value of the enhancement factor depends on cavity parameters. Affected by the laser structure, the nonlinear gain has a different power dependence than expected from material considerations alone     

Transient multimode dynamics in nearly single-mode lasers

The transient dynamics of nearly single-mode semiconductor lasers is studied analytically and numerically for lasers biased below threshold. The side-mode excitation probability is evaluated by solving a Fokker-Planck equation approximately. The validity of the approximate solution is verified through Monte Carlo simulations of the corresponding Langevin equations. The results show the relevance of the carrier-density overshoot during laser turn-on in determining the side-mode excitation probability. They also indicate the dependence of this probability on various device parameters such as the gain margin between the main and side modes. The experiments performed by using distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor lasers show qualitative agreement with theory     

Computer simulation of laser photon fluctuations: Theory of single-cavity laser

This paper is the first of a series devoted to theoretical studies of photon fluctuations in the light output of semiconductor injection lasers. Statistics on laser photon fluctuations are collected by means of a simulation of the dynamic behavior of the laser based on numerical solutions of noise driven laser rate equations. This first paper in the series introduces the noise driven rate equations for a single-cavity laser, explains the method used for their numerical solution, and discusses some approximate analytical results. The second paper presents results of photon counting statistics for the single-cavity laser collected from numerical solutions of the time dependent equations. Additional papers in this series will concentrate on coupled-cavity and distributed feedback lasers. Comparison of these statistical results will show clearly the advantage of coupled-cavity and distributed feedback laser designs over conventional single (Fabry-Perot) cavity injection lasers.     

Transition from the lowest linewidth mode operation to coherencecollapse in a semiconductor laser with feedback from a distant reflector

The influences of optical feedback from a distant reflector on single-mode semiconductor laser operation are analyzed theoretically. The stable operation in the lowest linewidth mode and the feedback parameter for the onset of coherence collapse are systematically derived. In the feedback regime for the lowest linewidth mode operation, the laser principally operates at the emission frequency of the solitary laser at the beginning of the operation with the feedback. It is shown exactly by asymptotic analysis of the equation for the field phase in the semiconductor cavity considering the time-lag of the feedback that the laser comes to operate in the lowest linewidth mode. In the lowest linewidth mode operation, the laser is stably phase-locked to the feedback. In the semiconductor cavity, the field amplitude and the field phase oscillate in almost the same phase in the fluctuation modes related to the relaxation oscillations, In the lowest linewidth mode operation, the phase oscillations enhance the amplitude oscillations through the feedback-action's dependence upon the phase difference between the field in the semiconductor cavity and the feedback. Thus, the damping of the relaxation oscillations decreases with further increased feedback and the transition to the coherence collapse occurs