Analysis of the frequency noise of tunable multisection DBR lasers

A theoretical analysis is performed of the frequency noise in tunable two- and three-section distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser diodes (LDs), taking into account the nonlinear gain compression effect. For a two-section DBR LD the frequency noise is shown to depend significantly on the tuning current, particularly at low frequencies (below the gigahertz range) and for low and moderate values of the grating coupling coefficient. For high values of this coefficient the tuning dependence is generally negligible when the tuning is performed only through the DBR section, but it becomes significant when using the phase control current in a three-section device. It is shown that the enhancement factor for the spontaneous emission rate due to the longitudinal field dependence increases significantly with tuning for low values of the grating coupling coefficient