Study on Fast Response of Semiconductor Laser Driven by Impulse Current

Abstract

A simulation model based on single-mode rate equations of semiconductor laser and its typical parameters shows that, the photon stimulated emission rate at the early turn-on time of the semiconductor laser is increased with the increase of the injection current, and the corresponding rise time is reduced with the increase of injection current. However, for an output power is fixed semiconductor laser, increasing the injection current to reduce the rise time of the transmitted pulse leads to increase in temperature of semiconductor laser. We show that adding an impulse current in the front of the normal luminous pulse current can reduce the rise time of the transmitted pulse and ensure the stable output of the semiconductor laser. This method is verified by simulation and an experiment using PLTB450B semiconductor laser. The simulation and test results show that for an output power is fixed semiconductor laser, the rise time of the transmitted pulse can be reduced significantly by adding impulse current.