Ultra-low threshold current laser for optical parallel data communication

Author

Shin, Ki-Chul ; Serizawa, Naoki ; Arai, Shigehisa

Author_Institution

Res. Center for Quantum Effect Electron., Tokyo Inst. of Technol., Japan

Volume

15

Issue

5

fYear

1997

fDate

5/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

845

Lastpage

851

Abstract

The drive current of a directly modulated semiconductor laser for optical parallel data communication was investigated by taking into account both the threshold current and the differential quantum efficiency which are defined from the cavity length and the mirror reflectivities. Then the drive current required for an error free data communication (bit error rate: BER<10^-9) with the bit rate of 1 Gb/s was shown as a function of the threshold current with parameters of the cavity length and the mirror reflectivities. It was found that the laser cavity design which yields the minimum drive current is almost the same condition to achieve the minimum threshold current operation when the total system loss is low (<10 dB), whereas the cavity design for higher differential quantum efficiency is required when the total system loss is much higher. When the cavity length is 100 μm and the rear mirror reflectivity R_r is 0.99 for an example, the front mirror reflectivity R_f which gives the minimum drive current was obtained to be 0.94, 0.91, and 0.8 for the total system loss of 6, 10, and 20 dB, respectively

Keywords

data communication; data communication equipment; error statistics; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; laser mirrors; optical communication equipment; optical modulation; reflectivity; semiconductor lasers; 1 Gbit/s; 10 dB; 20 dB; 6 dB; bit error rate; bit rate; cavity design; cavity length; differential quantum efficiency; directly modulated semiconductor laser; drive current; error free data communication; front mirror reflectivity; laser cavity design; minimum drive current; mirror reflectivities; optical parallel data communication; rear mirror reflectivity; threshold current; total system loss; ultra-low threshold current laser; Bit error rate; Data communication; Delay effects; Mirrors; Optical design; Optical feedback; Optical modulation; Power lasers; Reflectivity; Threshold current;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.580826

Filename

580826