Linewidth in Widely Tunable Digital Supermode Distributed Bragg Reflector Lasers: Comparison Between Theory and Measurement

Author

Ward, Andrew J. ; Busico, Giacinto ; Whitbread, Neil D. ; Ponnampalam, Lalitha ; Duck, J.P. ; Robbins, David J.

Author_Institution

Bookham, Caswell

Volume

42

Issue

11

fYear

2006

Firstpage

1122

Lastpage

1127

Abstract

A transfer-matrix-based model is presented for calculating the linewidth of a widely tunable distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser as a function of its tuning currents. This model is used to calculate the linewidth of a digital supermode (DS)-DBR laser across its tuning range and compared to linewidth measurements under the same conditions. Excellent agreement is obtained with all the fine structure seen in the measurement being reproduced by the model. This suggests that the dominant factors which determine the complex structure of the linewidth are simple ones such as loss, threshold gain and optical power rather than complex details of the carrier dynamics

Keywords

distributed Bragg reflector lasers; laser modes; laser tuning; matrix algebra; optical losses; semiconductor lasers; spectral line breadth; carrier dynamics; digital supermode lasers; distributed Bragg reflector lasers; laser linewidth; linewidth measurements; semiconductor lasers; transfer-matrix-based model; tunable lasers; tuning currents; Distributed Bragg reflectors; Distributed feedback devices; Laser modes; Laser noise; Laser theory; Laser tuning; Phase noise; Power lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Tunable circuits and devices; Laser noise; laser tuning; semiconductor lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2006.882559

Filename

1710147