Limit of optical pulsewidth in the gain-switched DFB semiconductor laser

Author

Cho, Seong-Dae ; Lee, Chang-Hee ; Shin, Sang-Yung

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Korea Adv. Inst. of Sci. & Technol., Taejon, South Korea

Volume

11

Issue

7

fYear

1999

fDate

7/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

782

Lastpage

784

Abstract

We investigate the minimum optical pulsewidth that is obtainable in the gain-switched distributed-feedback semiconductor laser. The minimum obtainable optical pulsewidth is determined by either the period doubling or the saturation of modulation efficiency. The shift of the resonance frequency to the lower frequency side with increase of the modulation current brings about these phenomena. It is predicted theoretically that the minimum obtainable pulsewidth is about 0.2 times the period of the small-signal resonance. The minimum pulsewidth after compression with a dispersion compensating fiber is also discussed. Experimental measurements are in good agreement with the theory.

Keywords

Q-switching; distributed feedback lasers; laser beams; laser feedback; optical pulse compression; optical pulse generation; optical saturation; semiconductor lasers; 15 C; 1553.5 nm; 5 GHz; 9 mA; compression; dispersion compensating fiber; gain-switched DFB semiconductor laser; gain-switched distributed-feedback semiconductor laser; minimum obtainable pulsewidth; minimum optical pulsewidth; minimum pulsewidth; modulation current; modulation efficiency; optical pulsewidth; period doubling; resonance frequency; saturation; small-signal resonance; Laser theory; Optical modulation; Optical pulses; Optical saturation; Pulse compression methods; Pulse modulation; Resonance; Resonant frequency; Semiconductor lasers; Space vector pulse width modulation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.769706

Filename

769706