Title :
Four-wave mixing and optical modulation in a semiconductor laser
Author :
Liu, Jia-Ming ; Simpson, T.B.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., California Univ., Los Angeles, CA, USA
fDate :
4/1/1994 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
There is a direct connection between nearly degenerate four-wave mixing in a semiconductor laser and optical modulation in the laser field. It can be understood using a model of an unlocked, optically injected laser, which emphasizes the effect of the laser resonator on the optical interactions. This model correctly describes the observed spectral characteristics and their dependence on the intrinsic parameters of the semiconductor laser. This is used to develop a simple and accurate technique using a single experimental setup for the parasitic-free characterization of the intrinsic laser parameters, including the relaxation resonance frequency, the total relaxation rate, the nonlinear relaxation rate, and the linewidth enhancement factor. Other parameters, such as the spontaneous carrier lifetime, the photon lifetime, the differential and nonlinear gain parameters, and the K factor, are determined from the power dependencies of these parameters. This technique requires only two CW lasers closely matched in wavelength and is applicable to semiconductor lasers of any wavelength and any dynamic bandwidth
Keywords :
carrier lifetime; laser theory; multiwave mixing; optical modulation; semiconductor lasers; CW lasers; K factor; dynamic bandwidth; intrinsic parameters; laser field; laser resonator; linewidth enhancement factor; nearly degenerate four-wave mixing; nonlinear gain parameters; nonlinear relaxation rate; optical interactions; optical modulation; parasitic-free characterization; photon lifetime; power dependencies; relaxation resonance frequency; semiconductor laser; spectral characteristics; spontaneous carrier lifetime; total relaxation rate; unlocked optically injected laser; wavelength matched lasers; Charge carrier lifetime; Four-wave mixing; Laser modes; Nonlinear optics; Optical mixing; Optical modulation; Optical resonators; Resonance; Resonant frequency; Semiconductor lasers;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of