Linewidth Of Semiconductor Lasers Research Articles

The frequency noise and spectral linewidth in semiconductor ring lasers

Numerical analyses for power spectral density of frequency noise (FN) and spectral linewidth in monolithic semiconductor ring laser (SRL) operating in the bistable unidirectional regime are performed in this paper. The Langevin noise sources for electric field and carrier density fluctuations are also taken into account in the frequency-domain theoretical model. The influences of several important physical parameters on the FN properties and laser linewidth are clearly demonstrated, including the injection current, linewidth enhancement factor and the particular backscattering coefficient. Due to the particular backscattering in SRLs, the calculated linewidths are relatively higher than that from the conventional Henry formula. The laser linewidth shows an exponential relationship with the backscattering strength.

Optical locking of two semiconductor lasers through high-order Brillouin Stokes components in optical fiber

A novel technique for optical injection locking of two semiconductor lasers through high-order Brillouin Stokes components in optical fiber is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The configuration potentially provides microwave signals generation at manifold Brillouin frequency without high-frequency external modulator and generator. Significant narrowing of the locked slave semiconductor laser linewidth was recorded.

Measurement of the emission linewidth of a single-frequency semiconductor laser with a ring fibre interferometer

A simple scanning interferometer is implemented for measuring the emission linewidth of single-frequency semiconductor lasers. The free dispersion region of the interferometer is 28 MHz, the spectral resolution being 470 kHz.

Experimental demonstration of a flexible and stable semiconductor laser linewidth emulator

We propose and demonstrate experimentally a laser source whose linewidth is adjustable independently of its other characteristics. This source can be used to test whether a particular laser would be suitable in a system, without the need to purchase several different lasers. It also has the advantage that the linewidth is generated digitally so it is extremely stable over time. We demonstrate a dialed-linewidth emulator between 256 kHz to 150 MHz. The narrowest linewidth shown by this technique is the original linewidth of the semiconductor laser source used in the setup. We also investigate the effect of driving our modulator into its nonlinear range.

Semiconductor laser phase-noise cancellation using an electrical feed-forward scheme

We demonstrate the reduction of semiconductor laser phase noise by using an electrical feed-forward scheme. We have carried out proof-of-concept experiments on a commercially available distributed-feedback laser emitting at the 1550 nm communication band. The preliminary results show more than 20 times reduction in the phase-noise power spectrum. The feed-forward scheme does not have the limited bandwidth, stability, and speed issues that are common in feedback systems. Moreover, in the absence of electronic noise, feed-forward can completely cancel the close-in phase noise. In this scheme, the ultimate achievable phase noise will be limited by the electronics noise. Using the proposed feed-forward approach, the linewidth of semiconductor lasers can be reduced by 3-4 orders of magnitude in a monolithic approach using today's low-noise scaled transistors with terahertz gain-bandwidth product.

Unrepeated 200-km transmission of 40-Gbit/s 16-QAM signals using digital coherent receiver

We demonstrate unrepeated 200-km transmission of 40-Gbit/s 16-QAM signals using a digital coherent receiver, where the decision-directed carrier-phase estimation is employed. The phase fluctuation is effectively eliminated in the 16-QAM system with such a phase-estimation method, when the linewidth of semiconductor lasers for the transmitter and the local oscillator is 150 kHz. Finite-impulse-response (FIR) filters at the receiver compensate for 4,000-ps/nm group-velocity dispersion (GVD) of the 200-km-long single-mode fiber and a part of self-phase modulation (SPM) in the digital domain. In spite of the launched power limitation due to SPM, the acceptable bit-error rate performance is obtained owing to high sensitivity of the digital coherent receiver.

45 GHz self-pulsation with narrow linewidth in quantum dot Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers at 1.5 µm

Self-pulsation at 45 GHz repetition frequency has been demonstrated in 1.5 µm monolithic single-section quantum dot Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers without saturable absorber. The mode-beating exhibits a narrow linewidth below 100 kHz, demonstrating high phase correlation between these modes. Such modelocked lasers open ways to low timing-jitter components for clock recovery or millimetre-wave generation in wireless transmission applications.

A comparative study of InAs quantum dot lasers with barriers of direct and indirect band gaps

We propose the idea of making quantum dot (QD) lasers by embedding direct-bandgap QDs in a short-period superlattice whose bandgap is indirect. In comparison with similar QD lasers with barriers of direct band gap, this technique not only reduces the temperature dependence of threshold current, but also leads to extremely small linewidth enhancement factor, making low-temperature sensitivity, low chirp, and narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers feasible.

Design of Quantum-Dot Lasers With an Indirect Bandgap Short-Period Superlattice for Reducing the Linewidth Enhancement Factor

A novel gain medium consisting of direct bandgap semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a short-period superlattice of indirect bandgap as barrier material is proposed to produce QD lasers with extremely small linewidth enhancement factor /spl alpha/. Our analysis has shown that at least one order-of-magnitude reduction in /spl alpha/ can be achieved at room temperature compared to that of similar QDs embedded in direct-bandgap barriers, making low chirp, narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers feasible.

Numerical approach to field fluctuations and spectral lineshape in InGaAsP laser diodes

AbstractThis paper reports on a numerical approach to model the field fluctuations, spectral lineshape and linewidth in semiconductor lasers. The approach is based on numerical solution of the laser rate equations augmented by Langevin noise sources that account for fluctuations in the lasing field. The paper newly examines contributions of intensity and frequency noises to the spectral characteristics of the lineshape and its linewidth over a wide range of injection current. The model is applied to InGaAsP lasers emitting in a wavelength of 1.5 μm as the most representative light sources in optical communication systems. Accuracy of approximated models of calculating linewidth from low‐frequency components of the frequency noise is checked. Effect of non‐linear gain suppression on the lineshape is also explored. The spectral lineshape promotes and the linewidth decreases as the laser is injected far from the near‐threshold region. The lineshape changes mainly with changes in the frequency noise spectrum while the linewidth is sensitive to variation in the low‐frequency levels of both intensity and frequency noises. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ultimate linewidth reduction of a semiconductor laser frequency-stabilized to a Fabry-Pérot interferometer.

We report a theoretical dynamical analysis on effect of semiconductor laser phase noise on the achievable linewidth when locked to a Fabry-Pérot cavity fringe using a modulation-demodulation frequency stabilization technique such as the commonly used Pound-Drever-Hall frequency locking scheme. We show that, in the optical domain, the modulation-demodulation operation produces, in the presence of semiconductor laser phase noise, two kinds of excess noise, which could be much above the shot noise limit, namely, conversion noise (PM-to-AM) and intermodulation noise. We show that, in typical stabilization conditions, the ultimate semiconductor laser linewidth reduction can be severely limited by the intermodulation excess noise. The modulation-demodulation operation produces the undesirable nonlinear intermodulation effect through which the phase noise spectral components of the semiconductor laser, in the vicinity of even multiples of the modulation frequency, are downconverted into the bandpass of the frequency control loop. This adds a spurious signal, at the modulation frequency, to the error signal and limits the performance of the locked semiconductor laser. This effect, reported initially in the microwave domain using the quasistatic approximation, can be considerably reduced by a convenient choice of the modulation frequency.

Measurement of gain spectrum for fabry-perot semiconductor lasers by the fourier transform method with a deconvolution process

To improve the accuracy of measured gain spectra, which is usually limited by the resolution of the optical spectrum analyzer (OSA), a deconvolution process based on the measured spectrum of a narrow linewidth semiconductor laser is applied in the Fourier transform method. The numerical simulation shows that practical gain spectra can be resumed by the Fourier transform method with the deconvolution process. Taking the OSA resolution to be 0.06, 0.1, and 0.2 nm, the gain-reflectivity product spectra with the difference of about 2% are obtained for a 1550-nm semiconductor laser with the cavity length of 720 /spl mu/m. The spectra obtained by the Fourier transform method without the deconvolution process and the Hakki-Paoli method are presented and compared. The simulation also shows that the Fourier transform method has less sensitivity to noise than the Hakki-Paoli method.

High-performance phase locking of wide linewidth semiconductor lasers by combined use of optical injection locking and optical phase-lock loop

The requirement for narrow linewidth lasers or short-loop propagation delay makes the realization of optical phase-lock loops using semiconductor lasers difficult. Although optical injection locking can provide low phase error variance for wide linewidth lasers, the locking range is restricted by stability considerations. Theoretical and experimental results for a system which combines both techniques so as to overcome these limitations, the optical injection phase-lock loop (OIPLL), are reported. Phase error variance values as low as 0.006 rad/sup 2/ (500 MHz bandwidth) and locking ranges exceeding 26 GHz were achieved in homodyne OIPLL systems using DFB lasers of summed linewidth 36 MHz, loop propagation delay of 15 ns and injection ratio less than -30 dB. Phase error variance values as low as 0.003 rad/sup 2/ in a bandwidth of 100 MHz, a mean time to cycle slip of 3/spl times/10/sup 10/ s and SSB noise density of -94 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset were obtained for the same lasers in an heterodyne OIPLL configuration with loop propagation delay of 20 ns and injection ratio of -30 dB.

Semiconductor laser linewidth from the transmission-line laser model

Two methods for determining semiconductor laser linewidth using the transmission-line laser model (TLLM) are developed. The first is a semianalytical method suitable for DFB lasers. The second uses Fourier transforms to extract the laser spectrum from the simulated optical field, and is suitable for any laser structure. A technique for increasing the accuracy of this second method has been developed. Extensive comparisons with previous work verify the accuracy of both methods.

Carrier heating and the power independent linewidth in semiconductor lasers

We present linewidth measurements on AlGaAs double heterostructure lasers as a function of temperature and power. The data, which plot observed linewidth as a function of reciprocal power, reveal decreasing slopes and increasing vertical axis intercepts, or power independent linewidths, with falling temperature, consistent with previous experimental observation [D. Welford and A. Mooradian, Appl. Phys. Lett. 40, 560 (1982)]. To explain the power independent linewidth broadening observed in these continuous wave single frequency lasers, we propose that carrier heating processes create a thermal nonequilibrium between electrons and the semiconductor lattice, and that this leads to a power dependent linewidth enhancement factor. From a carrier thermal model we find that the power independent linewidth is mediated by the longitudinal optical (LO)-phonon lifetime (τLO); as τLO is increased (for example, by decreasing the lattice temperature), the noneqilibrium condition is enhanced, and, consequently, the power independent linewidth increases.

Influence of refractive index nonlinearities on modulation and noise properties of semiconductor lasers

The modulation response and the spectral linewidth of singlemode semiconductor lasers are analysed by taking into account the nonlinear gain and the nonlinear refractive index in the rate equations. It is shown that the effect of nonlinear gain and index can be included through an effective linewidth enhancement factor αeff that is different for frequency modulation and for spectral linewidth. The effect of the nonlinear index is particularly strong in the case of frequency modulation where αeff can become zero or even negative for lasers operating on the red side of the gain peak. In the case of laser noise, αeff causes linewidth saturation but no rebroadening at high output powers. Our results indicate that gain and index nonlinearities are not the cause of linewidth rebroadening.

Traveling wave method for calculation of linewidth, frequency tuning, and stability of semiconductor lasers

The authors present a new traveling wave method for calculating the linewidth, the frequency tuning efficiency, and a mode stability parameter for a general class of laser-diode structures. The method leads to simple semianalytic expressions which allow an easy numerical determination of the three parameters.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Self-quenching of the semiconductor laser linewidth below the Schawlow–Townes limit by using optical feedback

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally self-quenching of the fundamental semiconductor laser frequency fluctuations to a level that is orders of magnitude below the Schawlow-Townes limit for a solitary laser. It is shown that the main operative mechanism is the combined action of a frequency-dependent internal loss and amplitude-to-phase coupling. The internal frequency-dependent loss is introduced by means of spectrally narrow external optical feedback, which provides a strong frequency-dependent dispersion. Linewidth reduction by a factor of 2 x 10(3) is demonstrated by using a narrow Doppler-free Faraday resonance in Cs vapor.

Field rate equation and linewidth of semiconductor laser with inhomogeneous resonator medium

The spontaneous emission noise of an axially inhomogeneous laser structure is evaluated by Green functions. Explicit analytical expressions are given for the field rate equation and linewidth in the case of soft variations of the complex effective index of refraction and are applied to a gain-lever laser.

Linewidth rebroadening in semiconductor lasers due to lateral spatial holeburning

The linewidth of semiconductor lasers is calculated taking into account a transversely inhomogeneous carrier distribution within the active region which gives an additional contribution to laser linewidth if the material linewidth enhancement factor is carrier density-dependent. For the first time it is theoretically shown that lateral spatial holeburning causes linewidth rebroadening in BH DFB lasers at high output power.