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Contents
• Laser Diodes
- structure, Modes, Rate Equation, Quantum efficiency,
Resonant frequencies, Radiation pattern
• Single-Mode Lasers
- DFB (Distributed- FeedBack) laser, Distributed-Bragg
Reflector, Modulation
LASER
(Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
R1 n1 R2
Z=0 n2 Z=L
exp( j 2 L) 1
Threshold gain & current density
1 1
gth ln [5]
2 L R1R2
For laser structure with strong carrier confinement, the threshold current
Density for stimulated emission can be well approximated by:
gth J th [6]
dn J n
Cn
dt qd sp
electron rate injection spontaneous recombination stimulated emission
1
from eq. [7] Cn / ph 0 n nth [8]
C ph
qd sp sp
Laser operation beyond the threshold
J J th
• The solution of the rate equations [8] gives the steady state
photon density, resulting from stimulated emission and
spontaneous emission as follows:
ph
s ( J J th ) ph Rsp [10]
qd
External quantum efficiency
i ( g th )
ext
g th
q dP dP (mW )
0.8065[ m] [11]
E g dI dI (mA )
2n
• Assuming the resonant frequency of the mth
mode is:
mc
m m 1,2,3,... [12]
2 Ln
c 2
m m1 [13]
2 Ln 2 Ln
Spectrum from a laser Diode
( 0 )
g ( ) g (0) exp : spectral width [14]
2
2
Laser Diode Structure & Radiation Pattern
2ne
B [15]
k
Frequency-Selective laser Diodes:
Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) laser
B 2 1
B (m )
2ne Le 2
[16]
Output spectrum symmetrically distributed around Bragg wavelength in an idealized DFB laser diode
Frequency-Selective laser Diodes:
Distributed Reflector (DR) laser
Modulation of Laser Diodes
• Internal Modulation: Simple but suffers from non-linear effects.
• External Modulation: for rates greater than 2 Gb/s, more
complex, higher performance.
• Most fundamental limit for the modulation rate is set by the
photon life time in the laser cavity:
1 c 1 1 c
ln g th
ph
[17]
n 2L R1 R2 n
• Another fundamental limit on modulation frequency is the
relaxation oscillation frequency given by:
1/ 2
1 1 I
f 1 [18]
2 sp ph I th
Relaxation oscillation peak
Pulse Modulated laser
• In a pulse modulated laser, if the laser is completely turned off
after each pulse, after onset of the current pulse, a period of
time is given by:
Ip
t d ln [19]
I p ( I B I th )