Reliability of semiconductor lasers used in current communication systems and sensing equipment

Abstract

The degradation mechanisms that had occurred – but that have now been largely suppressed or eliminated – in established consumer equipment and optical communication systems have also become problems in current optical fiber communication systems. This is due to the requirements of recently developed communication systems for semiconductor lasers, which operate at higher performance levels under severe environmental conditions. In addition, semiconductor lasers have now become important optical sources in new application fields such as sensing equipment, and these new applications have in turn brought new reliability problems to semiconductor lasers. In this paper, the degradation modes and reliability of semiconductor lasers are reviewed and discussed in association with recently developed optical sensing equipment and communication systems.