Electric Current Tuning the Self-Oscillation Frequency of EC-VCSELs

Author

Smith, C.J. ; Wen-di Li ; Wysocki, Gerard ; Chou, Stephen Y.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ, USA

Volume

25

Issue

17

fYear

2013

fDate

Sept.1, 2013

Firstpage

1707

Lastpage

1710

Abstract

We demonstrate a new way to electrically tune the self-oscillation frequency of an external cavity VCSEL by changing the electrical current injected into the VCSEL, without using any mechanical moving parts. We found that for a self-oscillation frequency from 500 MHz to 4 GHz, the tuning range is up to 15% and the tuning rate is up to 800 MHz/mA. Our experiments and simulation show that the injection current tuning of self-oscillation frequency is due to a change in the VCSEL birefringence induced by changing the injection current.

Keywords

birefringence; laser cavity resonators; laser tuning; oscillations; surface emitting lasers; VCSEL birefringence; electric current tuning; electrical current injection; external cavity VCSEL; frequency 500 MHz to 4 GHz; mechanical moving parts; self-oscillation frequency; Cavity resonators; Frequency modulation; Optical polarization; Oscillators; Tuning; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Lasers and electrooptics; birefringence; electrooptic effects; laser applications; optical modulation; vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2013.2273076

Filename

6557468