DFB laser with attached external intensity modulator

Author

Marcuse, Dietrich

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Lab., Holmdel, NJ, USA

Volume

26

Issue

2

fYear

1990

fDate

2/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

262

Lastpage

269

Abstract

A theoretical study is made of the frequency pulling effect exerted on a distributed feedback (DFB) laser by an external amplitude modulator that is directly attached to it. The modulator consists of a piece of waveguide whose loss is modulated by means of an externally applied voltage. The modulator affects the laser due to residual reflections from its far end which appear as a variable effective reflectivity to the output end of the DFB laser. Modulation affects the magnitude as well as the phase of the effective reflection coefficient presented to the laser due to the coupling of the real and imaginary parts of the effective refractive index of the modulator waveguide. The tuning problem is formulated as an eigenvalue equation for the DFB laser in the presence of an externally attached lossy cavity

Keywords

distributed feedback lasers; eigenvalues and eigenfunctions; laser theory; laser tuning; optical losses; optical modulation; optical waveguides; reflectivity; refractive index; DFB laser; effective reflection coefficient; effective refractive index; eigenvalue equation; external amplitude modulator; external intensity modulator; externally applied voltage; externally attached lossy cavity; frequency pulling effect; modulator waveguide; output end; reflect coefficient magnitude; reflection coefficient phase; residual reflections; tuning problem; variable effective reflectivity; waveguide piece; Amplitude modulation; Distributed feedback devices; Frequency; Intensity modulation; Laser feedback; Laser theory; Laser tuning; Optical reflection; Phase modulation; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.44957

Filename

44957