Mechanisms of fast self pulsations in two-section DFB lasers

Abstract

We show theoretically, that the detuning between the resonance frequencies of differently pumped DFB sections gives rise to two different pulsation mechanisms, 1) dispersive self Q-switching of a single-mode and 2) beating oscillations between two modes of nearly equal threshold gain. Our analysis is based on the dynamic coupled wave equations accomplished with carrier rate equations. We demonstrate the existence of certain isolated values of the detuning between both sections, at which two longitudinal eigenmodes become degenerate. In the degeneration point, the longitudinal excess factor of spontaneous emission has a singularity and the system of eigenmodes becomes incomplete. We derive reduced equations governing the dynamics in the vicinity of degeneration points. For an example device, the numerical integration of these equations clearly demonstrates the two different self pulsations with repetition rates of more than 100 GHz.