Lateral mode dynamics of semiconductor lasers

Author

Gordon, Reuven ; Xu, Jimmy

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Toronto Univ., Ont., Canada

Volume

35

Issue

12

fYear

36495

fDate

12/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1904

Lastpage

1911

Abstract

The interaction between two lateral modes in a waveguide semiconductor laser is studied. The effects of carrier diffusion are included into the governing rate equations. A linear stability analysis is used to identify regions of frequency locking between the lateral modes. Numerical integration shows the effects of the diffusion length and other system parameters on the lateral mode dynamics. It is shown that variations in the carrier diffusion length give rise to regimes of single-mode dominance, oscillation, chaos, and frequency locking. Direct experimental observations of higher order lateral modes in lasers exhibiting beam instabilities are presented. Observations of bistable beam steering with hysteresis are presented and explained

Keywords

laser beams; laser mode locking; laser modes; laser theory; optical bistability; semiconductor device models; semiconductor lasers; waveguide lasers; beam instabilities; bistable beam steering; carrier diffusion; chaos; diffusion length; governing rate equations; hysterersis; laser frequency locking; lateral mode dynamics; lateral modes; linear stability analysis; oscillation; semiconductor lasers; single-mode dominance; system parameters; waveguide semiconductor laser; Chaos; Equations; Frequency; Laser beams; Laser mode locking; Laser modes; Semiconductor lasers; Semiconductor waveguides; Stability analysis; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.806607

Filename

806607