Multimode Semiconductor Laser Research Articles

A Triple Correlator of Radiation Intensities of a Multimode Semiconductor Laser

In this work, temporal correlations of radiation intensities of a multimode Fabry-Perot (FP) semiconductor laser are studied. Second- and third-order intensity correlation functions are measured both for the multimode FP laser and a pulsed Ti: Sapphire (TiSp) laser. Triple correlators of the latter demonstrate an ordinary product of double correlators (the classic case). The behavior of the multimode laser is more complex and can indicate the quantum nature of optical field correlations. We follow a specific phenomenological formula for calculation of the triple temporal correlator.

Self‐mode‐locked multimode lasers for stabilised RF oscillators

Low phase noise RF oscillator is very important in modern communication systems and opto-electronic oscillator techniques have achieved superior phase noise. Development and characterisation of coupled symmetric multimode multi-section semiconductor laser pairs are reported for building a chip level RF oscillator. The symmetric laser structure operation is adjusted to achieve a self-mode locking of five modes at 26.4 GHz inter-modal oscillation frequency with the phase noise performance of −92 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset frequency.

Study of multimode semiconductor lasers with buried mesas

A buried-mesa AlGaAs/GaAs/GaInAs laser heterostructure emitting at a wavelength of 1050 nm is formed on a GaAs substrate by MOCVD. Mesa-stripe laser diodes with an aperture of 100 μm based on the obtained heterostructure are fabricated and studied. The internal optical losses of the laser diodes are 2.4 cm−1. The output powers in both directions achieved at a cavity length of 2900 μm in the cw and pulsed regimes were 2.1 and 23 W, respectively.

Inducing tunable single-mode operation of Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser coupled with very-short cavity with selective optical feedback

We report on achieving tuned single mode operation of a multimode semiconductor laser by coupling it to a very-short external cavity with selective feedback. We show that the induced uniform feedback light from the very-short external cavity can induce single-mode oscillation over a broad range of optical feedback. Then by applying selective external to the optimum settings of the single-mode oscillation, we predict tuning of the single-mode output over a wavelength range of ~ 20 nm by detuning the peak wavelength of optical feedback from the central wavelength of the modal gain. The study is based on modeling of the dynamics of multimode semiconductor laser subject to selective optical feedback. The model takes into account mechanisms of both self- and cross-modal gain suppression, and the study is concerned with the very-short external cavity that corresponds to stable continuous-wave (CW) operation.

Self-forced stabilization of inter-modal oscillation in multi-section semiconductor lasers at X-band.

Forced oscillation based on self-injection locked phase-locked (SILPLL) opto-electronic oscillator (OEO) technique is the basis of highly stable and low phase noise oscillators to be used as a key component in modern communication and sensing systems. To avoid large-size modular OEO, inter-modal oscillation at X-band frequencies is achieved in a compact multi-mode multi-section semiconductor laser using InP foundry service. Self-forced oscillation technique of SILPLL is demonstrated, where a phase noise performance of -98 dBc/Hz is measured at 10 kHz offset carrier of 11 GHz, which is an improvement of 68 dB compared with the free-running condition, which corresponds with 600 times reduction in calculated timing jitters from the free-running case to reach 0.45 ps for over 1 kHz to 1 MHz bandwidth.

Experimental studies of 1.5 – 1.6 μm high-power asymmetric-waveguide multimode lasers

The current – voltage, light – current, and spectral characteristics of high-power multimode semiconductor lasers emitting at wavelengths of 1.5 – 1.6 μm are studied experimentally. It is shown that the cw output power of a C-mount laser with a cavity length of 2.6 mm and a mesa-stripe contact width of 100 μm exceeds 4 W at a pump power of 15 A. The output power in a pulsed regime amounts to 20 W at a pulse duration of 100 ns, a pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz, and a pump current no higher than 80 A. The dependences of the laser wavelength and spectral width on the pump current are presented. The current – voltage and light – current characteristics, as well as the characteristic temperatures of the lasers, are calculated.

Multimode Semiconductor Laser: Quantum Versus Classical Behavior

Temporal correlations of radiation intensities of a multimode Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser are investigated. Strong intensity correlations with a fixed phase shift between different longitudinal modes of the laser are revealed. The second g^(2) and third g^(3) order intensity correlation functions are studied to clear the character of the intermodal coupling.

Effect of bandwidth limitation of optical noise injection on common-signal-induced synchronization in multi-mode semiconductor lasers.

We investigate common-signal-induced synchronization in two multi-mode semiconductor lasers subject to a bandwidth-limited optical noise signal. Synchronization can be achieved when the number of longitudinal modes is matched between the two lasers. The peak wavelengths need to be matched between the two lasers to achieve synchronization. In contrast, small correlation is observed when the peak wavelengths are mismatched. The synchronization is degraded as the number of longitudinal modes in one of the lasers is decreased. However, large correlation is obtained if the overlapped modes are selected and compared. We discuss the possibility of an unauthorized user reproducing the synchronized waveforms. It is difficult to completely reproduce the synchronized waveforms using synchronization if the bandwidth of the noise drive signal is limited.

Experimental examination of frequency locking effect in acousto-optic system

The optoelectronic system containing collinear acousto-optic cell fabricated on the base of calcium molybdate crystal and positive electronic feedback circuit was examined. The feedback signal is formed due to the optical heterodyning effect that occurs on the cell output and takes place in the special regime of collinear acousto-optic diffraction. It was discovered that three operation modes that may exist in this system. The boundaries between the modes were determined. The positions of the boundaries depend on the main parameters of the system—the incident light intensity and the feedback gain value. The new for acousto-optics phenomenon of acousto-optic system self-oscillations frequency locking by the RF generator signal was discovered and examined experimentally. Such an effect has never been observed before in the acousto-optic systems. It was experimentally shown that frequency locking effect may be used to select one of the multimode semiconductor laser longitudinal modes to improve laser radiation spectral composition.

Coherent noise reduction in digital holographic microscopy by averaging multiple holograms recorded with a multimode laser.

In digital holographic microscopy (DHM), it is undesirable to observe coherent noise in the reconstructed images. The sources of the noise are mainly the parasitic interference fringes caused by multiple reflections and the speckle pattern caused by the optical scattering on the object surface. Here we propose a noise reduction approach in DHM by averaging multiple holograms recorded with a multimode laser. Based on the periodicity of the temporal coherence of a multimode semiconductor laser, we acquire a series of holograms by changing the optical path length difference between the reference beam and object beam. Because of the use of low coherence light, we can remove the parasitic interference fringes caused by multiple reflections in the holograms. In addition, the coherent noise patterns change in this process due to the different optical paths. Therefore, the coherent noise can be reduced by averaging the multiple reconstructions with uncorrelated noise patterns. Several experiments have been carried out to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for coherent noise reduction in DHM. It is shown a remarkable improvement both in amplitude imaging quality and phase measurement accuracy.

The Degree of Temporal Synchronization of the Pulse Oscillations from a Gain-Switched Multimode Semiconductor Laser.

Langevin noise leads to inhibition of the temporal synchronization of the pulse oscillations from a gain-switched multimode semiconductor laser, resulting in the power reduction in optical beat detection. In this paper, the degree of the temporal synchronization of the pulse oscillations was examined by numerically estimating the output energy in THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) using multimode semiconductor laser rate equations that include Langevin noise. The degree was estimated to be 95.5% from the ratio of the averaged THz-TDS output energy for the case where Langevin noise was included to that for when Langevin noise was excluded. Therefore, a gain-switched multimode semiconductor laser can be regarded as equivalent to optical pulses oscillating simultaneously in all modes in actual applications including optical beat detection.

Extreme events induced by collisions in a forced semiconductor laser.

We report on the experimental study of an optically driven multimode semiconductor laser with a 1m cavity length. We observed a spatiotemporal regime where real-time measurements reveal very high-intensity peaks in the laser field. Such a regime, which coexists with the locked state and with stable phase solitons, is characterized by the emergence of extreme events that produce heavy tail statistics in the probability density function. We interpret the extreme events as collisions of spatiotemporal structures with opposite chirality. Numerical simulations of the semiconductor laser model, showing very similar dynamical behavior, substantiate our evidences and corroborate the description of interactions such as collisions between phase solitons and transient structures with different phase rotations.

Formation of phase soliton complexes in an optically injected semiconductor laser

We show experimental and numerical results about attractive interactions between phase solitons in a strongly multimode semiconductor laser with injected signal. The formation of soliton bound states, or phase solitons with multiple chiral charge, is demonstrated and analyzed in terms of the (spatio-temporally resolved) phase dynamics of the system. Propagation velocity of phase solitons in the longitudinal cavity is studied, and a correlation is established with phase soliton size and total charge.

Physically enhanced secure wavelength division multiplexing chaos communication using multimode semiconductor lasers

A physically enhanced secure wavelength division multiplexing chaos communication scheme in virtue of the chaos synchronization of two multimode semiconductor lasers (MSLs) is introduced. In this scheme, two communicating MSLs are subjected to identical optical injections from a chaotic external-cavity MSL, and each mode of the communicating MSLs is used as a chaotic carrier. The messages are divided into a set of blocks, and these blocks are transmitted by different modes in different time slots, according to a pre-negotiated pattern. The numerical results indicate that high-quality chaos synchronization with a wide operation region and relatively strong frequency detuning tolerance can be achieved between the communicating MSL modes, which can afford multiple simultaneous bidirectional message transmissions. Moreover, because of the carrier-consumption competition in the MSL cavity, the peak average power ratios of the chaotic carriers are much larger and more widely distributed with respect to selected single-mode injection or feedback cases, which can obviously enhance the link security against the attack of linear filtering. Also, the carrier-consumption competition induces a cross talk between the transmission messages, which can greatly improve the link security when eavesdroppers adopt the synchronization utilization method to attack the public link. Furthermore, with the non-fixed wavelength transmission technology, the system security can also be further improved greatly. The proposed scheme provides a new way to implement high-speed multichannel chaos communication with high physically enhanced security.

Phase solitons and domain dynamics in an optically injected semiconductor laser

We analyze experimentally and theoretically the spatio-temporal dynamics of a highly multimode semiconductor laser with coherent optical injection. Due to the particular geometry of the device (a 1~m long ring cavity), the multimode dynamics can be resolved in real time and we observe stable chiral solitons and domain dynamics. The experiment is analyzed in the framework of a set of effective semiconductor Maxwell-Bloch equations. We analyze the stability of stationary solutions and simulate both the complete model and a reduced rate equation model. This allows us to predict domain shrinking and the stability of only one chiral charge that we ascribe to the finite active medium response time.

Timing and amplitude jitter in a gain-switched multimode semiconductor laser

The differences in timing jitter between a gain-switched single-mode semiconductor laser and a gain-switched multimode semiconductor laser are examined using rate equations that include Langevin noise. The timing jitter in a gain-switched multimode semiconductor laser is found to be effectively suppressed by a decrease in the coherence time of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) based on a broad bandwidth of multimode oscillation. Instead, fluctuations in the ASE cause amplitude jitter in the pulse components of the respective modes. A pulse train of gain-switched pulses from a multimode semiconductor laser with timing jitter is equivalently simulated by assuming a high spontaneous emission factor and a short coherence time of the ASE in the single-mode semiconductor laser rate equations.

Dissipative Phase Solitons in Semiconductor Lasers.

We experimentally demonstrate the existence of nondispersive solitary waves associated with a 2π phase rotation in a strongly multimode ring semiconductor laser with coherent forcing. Similarly to Bloch domain walls, such structures host a chiral charge. The numerical simulations based on a set of effective Maxwell-Bloch equations support the experimental evidence that only one sign of chiral charge is stable, which strongly affects the motion of the phase solitons. Furthermore, the reduction of the model to a modified Ginzburg-Landau equation with forcing demonstrates the generality of these phenomena and exposes the impact of the lack of parity symmetry in propagative optical systems.

Spectral characteristics of multimode semiconductor lasers with a high-order surface diffraction grating

We have studied the spectral characteristics of multimode semiconductor lasers with high-order surface diffraction gratings based on asymmetric separate-confinement heterostructures grown by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy . Experimental data demonstrate that, in the temperature range , the laser emission spectrum is in width and contains a fine structure of longitudinal and transverse modes. A high-order surface diffraction grating is shown to ensure a temperature stability of the lasing spectrum in this temperature range. From analysis of the fine structure of the lasing spectrum, we have evaluated the mode spacing and, thus, experimentally determined the effective length of the Bragg diffraction grating, which was in our samples.

Selective injection locking of a multi-mode semiconductor laser to a multi-frequency reference beam

Injection locking is a well known and commonly used method for coherent light amplification. Usually injection locking is obtained on a single-mode laser injected by a single-frequency seeding beam. In this work we show that selective injection locking of a single-frequency may also be achieved on a multi-mode semiconductor laser injected by a multi-frequency seeding beam, if the slave laser provides sufficient frequency filtering. This selective injection locking condition depends critically on the frequency detuning between the free-running slave emission frequency and each injected frequency component. Stable selective injection locking to a set of three seeding components separated by 1.2 GHz is obtained. This system provides an amplification up to 37 dB of each component. This result suggests that, using distinct slave lasers for each frequency line, a set of mutually coherent high-power radiation modes can be tuned in the GHz frequency domain.

Mode-competition noise associated with microwave modulation of multimode semiconductor lasers

We analyze the mode-competition (MC) phenomenon and the associated noise in multimode semiconductor lasers at microwave modulation. The study is based on the multimode rate-equation model, which takes into account the mechanisms of modal gain suppression. The MC is evaluated by the correlation coefficients between oscillating modes in the laser cavity. We show that an increase in the modulation depth changes the mode coupling from anticorrelation to positive correlation and then to complete coupling, which corresponds to emission of periodic pulses. The frequency spectra of relative intensity noise (RIN) exhibit sharp peaks at the modulation frequency and higher harmonics. The increase in the modulation depth is associated with suppression of the total and modal RIN under high-frequency modulation and with noise enhancement under low-frequency modulation.