Time-resolved frequency chirp control of semiconductor lasers using digital signal processing

Abstract

The theoretical possibility of precisely controlling the time-resolved chirp in a directly modulated semiconductor laser using a single drive digital-to-analog converter (DAC) controlled via a novel digital signal processing (DSP) algorithm is investigated. A semi-analytical expression for the requisite drive current is obtained through algebraic back-calculation of the large signal laser rate equations, in tandem with a first-order numerical approximation of the optical power and chirp functional relationship. A 25-GHz peak-to-peak frequency modulation (FM) at a bit-rate of 28-Gb/s is demonstrated at a 6 dB extinction ratio, while completely suppressing the transient chirp contribution. Furthermore, a bipolar frequency chirp signal resulting in a differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulation format at a bit-rate of 28-Gb/s was achieved with an error vector magnitude (EVM) below 1%. A 5-bit look-up table (LUT) was found to be adequate for capturing the requisite DSP drive current needed to fully suppress the transient chirp as demonstrated by preliminary optical link simulations at 28-Gb/s.