Extended robust semiconductor laser modeling for analog optical link simulations

An enhanced semiconductor laser model incorporating gain nonlinearities, gain saturation, index nonlinearities, leakage current, thermal effects, and noise effects is presented. Symbolically defined devices based on the proposed models are implemented in the Hewlett-Packard Advanced Design System computer-aided design tool. The laser model enables the simulation of the transient and steady-state dynamic characteristics of laser diodes such as carrier, photon concentration, optical power, and phase. Using the proposed model, important laser characteristics such as relaxation-oscillation peak frequency and modulation bandwidth are evaluated under different conditions and compared to published measurement results. Analog optical transmission performance limitations such as laser diode nonlinearity and noise are determined in both the time and frequency domains.